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TACOMA, WASH.' TER. 
The Ledger Steam Book and Job Pbinting House. 

1887. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1887, by R. F. Radebaugh, in the office of the 

Librarian of Congress, at -Washington, 









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TACOMA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

It is a matter of vital interest to the thousands of people who are now on 
their way westward, and the thousands more who will soon follow, to know 
what manner of country this is to which they have determined to come in 
obedience to that law which has for so many years been crowding the civilized 
portion of mankind towards the setting sun until now one complete circuit of 
the earth has been made. 

These pages are written to furnish such information concerning Tacoma, as 
shall enable those who read them to understand why, where and what Tacoma 
is — to learn what manner of town it is, and is likely to become, and to form 
something like a definite and accurate notion as to its desirability as an objec- 
tive point for the emigrant. 



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coinrrv court house. 

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I CATHOLIC CHURCH, 

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BMDLR, Proprietor. 
TACOMA NATIONAL UANK, | ^.J^ 5 ^^- Pre * d «' L 



City of TAG 

WESTERN TERMINUS OF 



I.P.R.R. PUGET SOUND. 



TACOMA IRON WORKS. Unm. Hocw** 4 Co, 
. PLANING MILL. SASH. DOOR A M : 

8 FURNI ITfRK MANUFACTORY, TACOMA ****'«■« M*j«VMCtVtMM» CO. 
1 SAWING AND PLANING MILL. H»r» ' Co. 
i TACOMA MILL CO S SAWING ft PLANT' MILL. Hamwh A Co, 
I TACOMA LANDCO.'S OFFICE. Uaac W.AK»»*oii. General MAiufff. 
f EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Fi»*r W«u. 
I SALMON CANNERY. FlurWMD. 
I rOUNPRY and MACHINE SHOP. Fi*» w *«o. 
i FANNY PADDOCK HOSPITAL, Fair «**» 

TUB AND BUCKET FACTORY. 
! FLOUR MILL. 
■ SAW M1LL. 

GAS WORKS. 

WASHINGTON C 



The Western Terminus 



-OF THE 



NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD, 



HISTORICAL. 



In 1873 the place where Tacoraa now stands was a wilderness of 
woods, uninhabited save by a few loggers. In 1878 it was little better. In 
1880, two years later, it had, as shown by the tenth census, 720 people. Seven 
years later, namely in 1887, it is an incorporated city of nearly 10,000 people, 
with well graded streets and sidewalks, sewers, stores, banks, daily newspapers, 
school houses, churches and many comfortable homes. In seven years a wilder- 
ness has become a prosperous city. There must be some power behind such a 
marvelous transf. rmation. 

One of the objects of the present writing is to point out some of the reasons 
which, in so brief a time, have caused Tacoma to germinate and grow at such a rate 
that in the struggle for commercial supremacy, it has, in point of the rapidity 
of its growth, outstripped all other towns in Washington Territory — some of 
which were nearly as large as Tacoma now is when these plateaus were yet cov- 
ered with the forest. 

For nearly half a century a railroad across the northern part of the United 
States, from Lake Superior to tide-water on the Pacific ocean, has been talked 
about and various schemes, some of them impracticable, have been devised for 
the raising of the requisite funds for so great an undertaking. 

Little was accomplished, however, except to draw attention to the resources 
of the country through which the p-oposed Northern Paci6c Railroad should 
run, and to discourage capitalists from risking their money in building the road 
on account of many real and more imagined obstacles, until about a dozen years 



/ Tacoma. 



4 



ago when Jay Cooke & Co., undertook to supply the necessary means. Then 
began the actual building of the road. When in the natural course of its con- 
struction it became necessary as required by the charter, to fix a point on Puget 
Sound to which the road should be built, and where the business incident to the 
meeting of ships and rail should be done, the chief men in the railroad company 
cast about for a suitable place at which the road, (considering it as building 
from East to West,) might terminate. 

These men felt that a great deal depended upon a proper selection of the 
terminus of the railroad, and they gave much time and attention to the question 
of its location. 

The agents chosen by the company to examine the shore line of Puget 
Sound with a view to the selection of the most suitable place for terminal pur- 
poses were Judge E. D. Rice, of Maine, Vice-President, and Capt. J. C. Ains- 
worth, of Portland, Oregon, the Managing Director for the Pacific coast, who 
were appointed Commissioners by a resolution of the Board of Directors, for the 
purpose of locating the Western Terminus. 

They were instructed to examine the entire eastern shore line of Puget 
Sound. After a careful personal examination of the several places that were 
deemed worthy of consideration and with a knowledge of all their advantages as 
fully set forth in the reports of the Company's engineers who had made elabor- 
ate surveys, the Commissioners fixed upon the southern shore of Commencement 
Bay, as the most eligible site for the terminus and reported accordingly to the 
Board of Directors. 

The report was made to the Company in the latter part of June 1873, and 
was at once approved by the President and Executive Committee of the Board 
of Directors, to whom full power in the matter had been given by the Board; 
and the work of completing the line from the Columbia river to Tacoma, the 
chosen terminus, was begun immediately upon the approval of the selection 
made by the Commissioners. At the next ensuing regular meeting of the Board 
of Directors on the 10th of September, 1873, the action of the Commissioners 
and of the President and Executive committee in relation to the selection of the 
terminus was formerly approved on the records of the Company by the adoption 
of the following resolution: 

"Resolved, That the Northern Pacific Railroad Company locate and con- 
struct its main road to a point on Puget Sound on the southerly side of Com- 
mencement Bay, in T. 21, N. R. 3 East of Willamette meridian, and within the 
limits of the City of Tacoma, which point in the said City of Tacoma is declared 
to be the Western Terminus of the main line of the Northern Pacific." 

The "City of Tarma," mentioned in the resolution, was at that time a 
little hamlet about a mile distant from the main city of to-day, containing, all 
told, about 200 people who depended for support upon the saw-mill there lo- 
cated. It now forms one of the wards of Tacoma. 

In accordance with that resolution the road was located and built from the 
Columbia River, and the plat thereof filed in the office of the Secrttary of the 



Historical. 5 



Interior, giving notice to the Government of the United States and all the world 
where the railroad was, and where the land granted to the Company on each side 
of its road was. This once done, the location cannot be changed. The action 
of the Directors was final and permanently fixed the terminus of the road at 
Tacoraa. When this had been done the Railroad Company purchased 3,000 
acres of land for townsite purposes which included the present city of Tacoma. 

Subsequently the Railroad Company sold its town property, with the notable 
exception of a quantity of lanl sufficient for extensive car and locomotive shops, 
depot buildings, s^ide tracks and wharves, to the Tacoma Land Company. In 
addi ion to this the Tacoma Land Company bought of the Railroad Company 
13,000 acres of odi numbered sections within six miles of the water front, mak- 
ing in all sixteen thousand acres of land owned by the Tacoma Land Company 
before any sales were made by it. 

A few r words here may be proper respecting the structure of the Tacoma 
Land Company and its relations to the Railroad Company, because these are 
suWjects of considerable inquiry on the part of strangers who are in search of in- 
formation about Tacoma. 

The Tacoma Land Company is a corporation organized under the laws of 
Pennsylvania, for the purpose of acquiring, holding and selling land at Tacoma. 
Its incorporators were the largest preferred stockholders of the Railroad Company. 
Its capital stock is $.1,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares of the par value of $50 
each. Of this stock the Northern Pacific Railroad Company owns a majority, 
to- wit: 10,001 shares; the individual preferred stockholders of the Railroad 
Company own the remaining 9,999 shares. The Railroad Company, then, owns 
a majority of the Land Company's stock and the rest of it is held in large part 
by the principal voting stockholders of the Railroad Company. 

That is to say the Railroad Company owns in and near Tacoma as much land as 
is covered by the city of Chicago, or St. Louis, or New Orleans, or Baltimore, or 
San Francisco. 

It owns .7,260 lineal feet of water front, of large and increasing value; 
and also a half interest in all the land belonging to the Tacoma Land Company 
in and around Tacoma, a large portion of which is laid off in town lots of eight to 
the acre, that sell from $150 to $5,000 each. Hence it appears that the Rail- 
road Company has a deep interest in the growth of Tacoma aside from its in- 
terest as a transportation company in the development of a commercial city at 
its western terminus. 

Here, then, is the situation: a transcontinental line of railroad seeks a place 
to transact the immense business that must grow up at the point where it dis- 
charges the accumulations of freight gathered in a journey across the continent 
and receives the cargoes of ships from every port on the Pacific ocean. Finding 
the most suitable place, the proper authorities so declare. To take advantage of 
the immense increase in the value of real estate in a growing commercial city, a 
large quantity of land is secured while it is yet cheap. The increase in the value 
of this land is measured by the growth of the terminal city. At no other point 



6 Tacoma. 

on Puget Sound does the Railroad Company own a large compact body of land. 
From the growth of no other place on Puget Sound will the Railroad Company 
derive a direct benefit. 

It does not require a man of more than ordinary penetration to see that, 
with this country new, and lines of transportation still undetermined, when the 
Northern Pacific people went to work they had it in their power to fix those 
lines and to name the point where they should converge. This they have done. 
Nor will it seem strange or unnatural that, having chosen the terminal point for 
these roads and having acquired an immense body of land in its immediate 
vicinity, they should so conduct iheir transportation business as to enhance the 
value of that land This, also, they have done, and still are doing by the simple 
process of providing and using facilities for transacting a large and growing vol- 
ume of transportation business centering at Tacoma. Before the Railroad Com- 
pany acquired its townsite property, the only interest it had in choosing a 
terminal location was to find a place suitable for the purpose and to which the 
road could be conveniently bu.lt. This was the primary consideration that in- 
fluenced its officials in making their choice. Having determined on the location 
they then bought the land, whereupon, in addition to their interest in Tacoma as 
a shipping point and railroad depot, they became intere.-ted in it as Ian led pro- 
prietors and have ever since manifested their interest as other men would do, by 
seeking to increase the value of their holdings. They have had not only the in- 
clination but the power to put in operation lorces that have attracted people to 
Tacoma, and with the influx of people who have found and created means of 
support came also increase in the value of lands. So that although considerable 
has been sold, what yet remains in the hands of the Company is of tenfold 
greater value than the whole in 1873. 

Not only this, but given a city of 20,000 inhabitants here on Commence- 
ment Bay and one-half the lands now owned by the Railroad and Tacoma Land 
Companies here would be worth many times the entire present value of all the 
property in Tacoma. 

That the growth and improvement of Tacoma are identified with the inter- 
ests of the Railroad Company which had and exercised the power to say where 
the one great city of the northwest should be built, is a sufficient assurance that, 
so far as the railroad influence goes, (and it is not to be said that this influence 
is small) nothing will be left undone that would promote the growth of the 
Terminal City. 



GEOGRAPHICAL. 



To form a definite and correct conception of the location of Tacoma relative 
to other important places, and to establir-h lines of transportation, it is necessary 
to know something of Washington Territory in general and of Puget Sound in 
particular. 



Geographical. 



Washington Territory lies immediately north of Oregon and west of Idaho 
Territory. It is bounded on the north by British Columbia, the forty-ninth 
parallel of latitude forming the dividing line until it strikes the waters of the 
Straits of San Juan de Fuca, when the dividing line follows the middle of the 
Straits to the Pacific ocean, which forms the western boundary. 

Its extreme length from east to west is 360 miles. Its extreme width from 
north to south is 249 miles. It contains an area of 69.994 square miles. Some 
idea of its size can be had by comparing it with other political divisions of the 
world. It is nearly one fourth as large as the original thirteen states of the 
Union; nearly twice as great as Ohio; equal to nine times the area of Massa- 
chusetts: one-third that of Prance, and is larger than England by 20,000 square 
miles 

This immense area is divided into two distinct and very different parts by 
the Cascade Mountains, which extend from the Columbia river northward en- 
tirely across the Territory. 

Communication between the two localities has been difficult and impracti- 
cable save in the summer months through the mountain passes, or via the 
Columbia river route to Portland, and thence by way of the Pacific division of 
the N. P. R. K. through Western Washington. The completion of the main line 
of the Northern Pacific B,ailroad to Tacoma across the Cascade Mountains 
enables the traveler to the Sound, to British Columbia, Alaska or Asia to avoid 
this long detour and make direct connections to his point of destination. 



EASTERN WASHINGTON. 



That portion of the territory lying east of the Cascade mountains is called 
Eastern Washington. It is for ihe'most part a prairie country, largely used for 
wheat growing and sto k raising. Owing to its extensive area and producing 
capacity it has been termed the "Inland Empire," It is estimated to contain 
ten million acres of the best wheat land in America, from which Gov. Squire 
estimates in his last report to the Department of the Interior nearly 400,000 
tons of wheat were shipped during the year ending June 30, 1886, mostly to 
Portland, Oregon, and from thence to San Francisco or direct to foreign ports. 
The Department of Agdculture gives the wheat acreage of this territory in trie 
year 1886 at 445.490 acres and the total product 7,560,000 bushels, valued at 
15,065,200, an average of 17 bushels to the acre, while the general average of the 
wheat product for the entire country during the same year, was not quite 12.4 
bushels per acre, showing that Washington territory takes the lead as a fertile 
wheat growing region. The California wheat acreage, product, and value, in 
1883 is reporte 1 by the same authority to have been 3,104,640 acres, producing 
36,165,000 bushels, valued ai $25,400,450, an average of a little less than 9 b ish- 
e!s per acre; Oregon pla ited 8S4,640 acres, and produced 11,133,000 bushels of 
wheat, va ued at $7,570,440, or between 11 and 12 bushels per acre. Total 
wheat acreage of California, Oregon and Washington in 1886, 4,434,790 acres, 



8 Tacoma, 



total product 54.858,000 bushels, out of a grand total for the Union of 36,806,184 
acres, and 457,218,000 bushels, valued at $314,226,020. These two states and the 
territory of Washington raised about one-eighth of the wheat product of the 
United States. 

The chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department gives the 
value of exports of bread stuffs from the leading ports of the country for the 12 
months ended December 31, 1886, at $148,122,020, of which the customs districts 
of San Francisco and Portland shipped bread stuffs valued at $31,949,715, or over 
one fifth of the value of the entire wheat exports of the country. The first wheat 
shipments from Tacoma to Europe were made in 1880, and some shipments have 
been made from this port nearly every year since; but Tacoma has been handi- 
capped in this business by the excessive freight charges by rail over the Oregon 
Railway and Navigation company's railroad, from which the Northern Pacific 
and the farmers of the " Inland Empire" will be relieved by the completion of 
the direct route over the Cascade mountains to tide-water at Tacoma. 

Even under these disadvantages the dispatch of grain laden vessels from this 
port has been more expeditious and ocean freights are placed at a much lower 
figure than could be obtained at Portland. With this showing it cannot be 
doubted that the bulk of the wheat from Eastern Washington and a portion of 
Northern Oregon will find its natural and cheapest shipping point at Tacoma. 
The difference of as high as $2.50 per ton in shipping wheat, foreign, in favor 
of Tacoma over Portland settles this point. 



WESTERN WASHINGTON. 



All that part of the Territory lying west of the Cascade mountains is called 
Western Washington. It is a heavily timbered, well watered country, inter- 
sected by many small rivers, in the valleys of which is to be found a very pro- 
ductive soil. The uplands also produce well when cleared of timber. On both 
valley and upland soil, grass, fruits and vegetables thrive as well as in any other 
part of the United States. 

The most important geographical feature of Western Washington is Puget 
Sound. Its importance consists in the fact that it affords the only safe and 
accessible harbors on the Pacific coast of America, north of San Francisco, and 
that, in consequence, the surplus products of an immense scope of country, rich 
in minerals, in timber and in agricultural lands, must and do find their outlet to 
the markets of the world by its waters. 

The following figures taken from the records of the Custom House evidence 
the growing importance of Puget Sound as a shipping district. 

Number and tonnage of American and foreign vessels in the foreign trade 
entered and cleared at the ports of San Francisco, Willamette (Portland), Or., 
and Puget Sound respectively, during the year ending June 30, 1885: 



Geographical. 9 



TONS. 

San Francisco . 767 vessels entered 881,299 

Willamette 68 " " 64,013 

Puget Sound 963 " " 881,264 

San Francisco 815 " cleared 973,231 

Willamette 126 " " 720,753 

Puget Sound 989 " " 396,385 

Of sixty-eight sea coast collection districts Puget Sound stands seventh as 
to number of vessels in the foreign trade entered and cleared. 

American and foreign ocean steam vessels in the foreign trade entered and 
cleared at San Francisco, Willamette and Puget Sound customs districts respect- 
ively during the year ending June 30, 1885: 

TONS. 

San Francisco 225 vessels entered .327,605 



Willamette 6 

Puget Sound 854 

San Francisco 228 

Willamette 18 

Puget Sound 855 



. 5,025 

300,693 

cleared r 330,676 

7,040 

311,430 



The district of Puget Sound holds the sixth rank in the United States as to 
American and foreign ocean steamers in the foreign trade entering and clearing 
to and from the district, and, except New York, is the leading port of the United 
States as to the number of entries and clearances of American steamers engaged in 
the foreign trade. When it is remembered that this is a comparatively new 
country in which foreign commerce has hardly made a beginning, its future 
commercial growth and importance may be imagined. 

Puget Sound, as th.2 name is here used, includes what is known as Admiralty 
Inlet, and Puget Sound proper; that is to say, all that body of water which ex- 
tends from the eastern end of the Straits of Fuca in a general southerly direc- 
tion for a distance of one hundred miles. 

The Straits of Fuca separate the southern end of Vancouver Island from the 
northern part of Western Washington, and connect the Pacific ocean with Puget 
Sound. They are from 6 to 12 miles wide and 90 long. Cape Flattery is at the 
extreme end of the Straits and is somewhat north of west of Port Townsend, 
which is at their eastern end and on the western shore of Puget Sound. The 
general direction of the shores of Puget Sound is nearly at right angles with 
those of the Straits, so that after turning to the south at Port Townsend the 
heavy winds which sometimes sweep through the Straits lose their force. . From 
Port Townsend south, Puget Sound is one immense harbor without rocks, shoals 
or breakers. There is absolutely no obstruction or hindrance to navigation. It 
branches out in various directions forming numerous islands and bays. It is 
about 100 miles long and has a shore line of 1,800 miles. At almost any point 
on this immense water front, ships could lie at anchor in all kinds of weather. 



10 Taeoma. 



LOCATION OF TACOMA. 



There are, nevertheless, many bays that are better protected from the winds 
than the main sound channel, where shiDS can lie in safety during heavy gales. 
Of this latter kind is Commencement Bay, on the shores of which Taeoma is 
built. This bay, as seen from a steamer coming up the Sound when Point 
Brown, the northern headland of the bay, has been reached, seems to be the 
end of the Sound. Asa matter of fact, however, the sound extends 50 miles further 
south. But at Point Defiance, which forms the southern headland of the bay, 
the sound becomes so narrow and the shore line deflects so much to the east, 
that the channel which connects Commencement Bay with the waters of the 
south, escapes observation. 

This narrow channel around Point Defiance, known as '* The Narrows," 
comes nearer meriting the name of an obstruction to navigation than anything 
else on Puget Sound. The rapid current through the Narrows, changing four 
times every twenty- four hours, renders it necessary for sailing vessels to employ 
tug boats if they would go further south than Taeoma. If Taeoma is their des- 
tination it is frequently unnecessary to employ tugs. They can and often do sail 
right up to the wharves of the city. 

While it is true that boats of all sizes can go 50 miles further south, yet the 
Narrows are a sufficient obstacle to cause ships to prefer to stop before going 
further south. This consideration had great weight with the Commissioners who 
selected Taeoma as the terminus of the railroad. No large sawmills have ever 
been built above the Narrows, though many of the mills draw their timber sup- 
ply from the upper sound country. The only important town on the sound 
south of Taeoma is Olympia, the Territorial Capital, which is important in a 
political rather than a commercial sense. Herein is the explanation of the state- 
ment that Taeoma, being located at Commencement Bay, is practically at the 
head of navigation for ocean going vessels. 

Commencement Bay is about five miles long and has a width of about three 
miles. It is completely land-locktd and protected from storms. The banks for 
most part are abrupt except at the extreme southeastern end, where the land 
slopes down to the waters' edge. 

The city of Taeoma extends from the head of the bay along the southern 
and western shore, a distance of three miles. 

The railroads come in. one from the east and one from the south, and unit- 
ing at the head of the bay, continue along the shore under the hill to the wharves, 
freight depot and coal bunkers, which are located about one mile from the head 
of the bay, and beyond to the yard of the Taeoma Mill Company. Switches 
are to connect the main tracks with the manufactories at the head of the bav. 



TOWNSITE OF TACOMA. 

The site of Taeoma has a general slope towards the southeast and the head 
of the bay. It is the best on the shores of Puget Sound in point of adaptability 



Geographical. 11 



of the ground for the purpose of a great city, including as it does, an extensive 
area of low level land contiguous to the waters of the Sound and convenient for 
the uses of the heavier business of the city, and also a wide stretch of hill-side 
rising from the level of the bay to a height of 300 feet and marked by four dis- 
tinct and nearly equi-distant plateaus or natural terraces, easy of access, and 
affording perfect drainage and every other natural convenience for the residence 
portion of the city. 

The beauty and healthfulness of this townsite give it rank, in these respects, 
among the most desirable in the world. The elevation places the resident and 
present business portion of the city well up in the region of pure air, thus secur- 
ing for its inhabitants one of the prime requisites for health. 

From the water front at a point known as " railroad wharf," the first ter- 
race or plateau is reached by Pacific avenue, at present the main business street 
of the city, by a gentle rise, in a direction nearly parallel with the railroad 
tracks. At adistanc'e of about half a mile from the wharves, the avenue makes a 
westerly detour of several degrees, following the contour of the bay, continuing 
its southerly course lor about three-fourths of a mile further to the railroad 
shops and beyond them through the Land Company's first addition to Taeoma, 
until another elevation is reached from which a magnificent view of the city is 
obtained. This avenue from the railroad wharf to the highest point in the 
southern part of the city is about two miles and a half long and the grades are 
easy throughout, making it one of the finest drives to be found in any city. 
Parallel with the course pursued by Pacific avenue from the point where it 
reaches the first plateau, run the lettered streets, and at right angles wuh it the 
numbered streets. East of Pacific avenue and near the edge of the bluff is A 
street; west of Pacific avenue Railroad street, both on the first plateau. Going 
west the streets crossed are C and D streets on plateau No. 2, E street and Ta- 
eoma avenue on the third plateau, and G street and Yakima avenue on the 
fourth. Back of Yakima avenue for a long distance the land is smooth and 
nearly level. All these streets, parallel with Pacific avenue, are nearly parallel 
with that part of the shore line of the bay that is south of the railroad wharf. 
North of the wharf the shore line bends rapidly to the westward. The hills rise 
abruptly to a height of several hundred feet immediately back of the wharf. 
From a point on the top of this hill, and just west of the wharf, Division avenue 
runs straight back from the bay, intersecting all the streets and avenues nam- 
ed above, which, crossing Division avenue, continue on to the north but 
changed in course so as to be nearly parallel with the shore line of the bay. 

These details will be readily understood by reference to the plat published 
herewith. Division avenue divides the townsite into two distinct parts and is 
comparatively level throughout. 

North of Division avenue the land slopes gently toward the bay, but does 
not lie in terraces as in the southern part of town. 

Besides the streets and avenues already mentioned, there are a number of 
streets running diagonally part way across the town, affording easy grades 



12 Tacoma. 



from terrace to terrace. The streets are so located with reference to the natural 
contour of the ground, that there is no point which is not easily reached by 
gentle grades, although there is a large portion of the town that is more than 
three hundred feet above the level of the bay 

Starting at Division avenue and going north along Yakima avenue, there is 
a gradual rise. Tacoma avenue and G street are nearly level from Division 
avenue south, while the streets nearer the bay slope appreciably toward the 
south. The highest point in the city is some distance to the west of the corner 
of 2lst and J streets; the lowest; except along the /vater front, at the corner of 
21st Street and Pacific Avenue. 

Business is extending southward on Pacific avenue, the upper portion of 
which is nearly covered with fine brick blocks, and westwardly to Kailroad and 
C steeets, as well as to the streets crossing this avenue, and eastwardly to A 
street. On A street is the Land company's spacious hotel, near which a 
large business block is being erected. On C street are the Land company's 
large building, the Court House, Daily Ledger office and other business houses. 
Yet there is a more pronounced drift of business southward, on Pacific avenue? 
towards the manufacturing district about the head of the bay. 

From the topography of the town, as above indicated, it will be apparent 
that all portions of it are favorably situated to secure complete drainage, by an 
economical system, through which the sewerage of a great city can be discharged 
into the bay, ar»d conveyed to the ocean by the ample tides, that daily fill every 
inlet and creek of Puget Sound. The soil of the town-site and the climate of 
the region also afford comparative immunity from many diseases, all circum- 
stances combining to render Tacoma one of the healthiest cities on the con- 
tinent. 



SCENERY. 



From almost every spot an Tacoma the view of the Bay, valley and moun- 
tain, is one of great beauty. As you face the east, there looms up to the 
right the huge form of Mount Tacoma, to a height of 14,444 feet covered with 
snow the whole year through, and well supported on either side by the lofty 
Cascade Mountains, extending north and south of Mount Tacoma, far enough to 
include one-fourth of the horizon. In front, the bay; to the left, the sound with 
its islands; across the Sound, the snow-capped Coast Range. The Puyallup 
River, which is fed by glaciers at the base of Mount Tacoma, after wandering 
among the hills for a distance of fifty miles, empties its waters into the head of 
Commencement Bay. The Valley of the Puyallup, as seen from Tacoma, is a 
competitor with the Bay, Sound, islands and Coast Kange for the adtfliration of 
those who love what is beautiful and grand in nature. Two or three miles of 
the lower end of the valley is devoid of timber except the fringe along the river 
bank; above that for eight or nine miles, the tree tops in the distance, as looked 
down upon from Tacoma, seem like a carpet of green velvet. The light green 



Climate. 13 



of tke valley timber shades off into the darker green of the tir trees that cover 
the up-lands. Then a little further on and higher up, comes the hazy blue of 
the foot-hills of the Cascades: then the white topped mountains against a sky 
of purest blue. 



CLIMATE. 

There is a general impression in the Eastern States that Washington Terri- 
tory is situated in the far northwest, somewhere near the frigid zone, and that. 
therefore, our winters must somewhat resemble those of Alaska or Siberia- 
Many otherwise well-informed persons in the East imagine that our summers 
are short and our winters long, dark and dreary: but how such an impression 
could have originated it is hard to conceive, for there is absolutely no ground or 
reason whereon to base it. 

The fact that we are situated near a large body of salt water, fully accounts 
for the mild weather that we enjoy in Western Washington throughout the fall 
and winter season, while from regions far east of us, and in the lower latitudes? 
we hear of heavy snow storms and themometers registering a temperature below 
zero. We have a most equable climate, absolutely free from the sudden and 
terrible changes of temperature which occur in the Eastern States. 

Our sound waters get their influx from the warm Pacific ocean current 
which strikes across from Japan to this continent; but here, although we are 
eight degrees north of the Washington city latitude, we have a much milder 
climate than its inhabitants enjoy — and for the same reason that the climate of the 
Isle of Wight off the south of England in a still higher latitude is more delight- 
ful and salubrious than that of Washington city — namely, because we are bathed 
in an atmosphere tempered by a much larger body of temperate waters than the 
Chesapeake Bay. We have all the physical advantages of the south of England 
in respect of climate, and at the same time we are in a considerablv lower lati- 
tude. No one ever thinks of the south of England or the city of Paris as being 
awav in the far north, and yet the greater portion of the Puget Sound region lies 
further south than the most extreme southern point of the English coast — indeed 
a parallel of latitude drawn through the city of Tacoma would run very nearly 
a degree and a half south of the gay and brilliant metropolis of France. People 
who neglect to observe these physical facts, express great surprise when they 
arrive at Tacoma after passing through the snow fields of the far East, to find 
spread out before their enchanted view, the magnificent panorama of perennial 
verdure which surrounds our great Inland Sea. Our front yards are bright with 
verdure in what are elsewhere called the winter months, for in fact we have 
seldom an3' winter as the people in the East understand the seasons. The mean 
temperature of the atmosphere of Tacoma during the year 1886 was as follows, 
and it is about the same year in and year out. 



u 



Tacoma. 



MEAN MONTHLY TEMPERATURE. 1886, 



January 35.2° 

February 43.5° 

March 43° 

April 41.4° 

May . .» 57.3° 

June 60.9 



July 66.8° 

August .. 65.8° 

September 59.5° 

October 50.9° 

November 40.5° 

December 44.3° 



In regard to the rainfall of Puget Sound some extravagant stories are re- 
lated abroad, which have but a slight coloring of fact. People who regard Puget 
Sound and the Straits of Fuca as a small sea port and district, when they hear of 
an average precipitation of 100 inches a year at Neah bay at the entrance of the 
Straits, rush to the conclusion that this entire country is drenched and flooded 
by perpetual rain storms, but this is far from the truth. The following table 
giving the monthly record of precipitation for four years past was taken in this 
city by a voluntary observer of the United States army signal service, and is 
recognized as correct: 

MONTHLY RAINFALL IN INCHES. 



MONTHS. 



1883 



January 
February 
March . 

April 

May 

June 

July 
August 



3.84 
1.28 
2.45 
4.91 
2.08 
.33 

.10 



1884 



September < 1 . 54 

October .'. | 2.27 

November 4 31 

December 4.50 



4. £3 
6 72 
1.27 
4.73 

.85 
2.81 

.90 
1.29 
3.21 
6 . 73 
1.84 
4.88 



1885 



Total i 27.61 



40.16 



4.20 

4.16 

1.01 

.47 

2.89 

.49 

.26 

2.44 
2.47 
8.22 
6.13 

32.74 



1886 



7 71 

2.29 

3.35 

3.67 

1.84 

1.03 

1.44 

.44 

2 12 

3.78 

1.59 

11.09 

40735 



The spring rains are generally sufficient to insure good crops, when ordi- 
nary care is exercised in farming operations by taking advantage of the seasons. 
The light frosts seldom injure vegetation, which has a much longer yearly life 
here than in some more southern latitudes. Light snows may be expected in 
December, January or February, but they generally remain on the ground only 
a few hours. We may expect a short ''cold snap" every winter, during which 
the thermometer seldom registers lower than 10° above zero, the lowest tempera- 
ture observed in Tacoma during the past four years having been five degrees 
above zero. 

We have a more agreeable and healthful climate than any city east of the 
Mississippi river; it is not so warm in summer as to enervate, and yet it is 
warm enough to be pleasant to the most delicate persons; or often cold enough 
in winter to make out of door work or exercise disagreeable. What is called the 
rainy season begins about the 1st of November and lasts till the 1st of April, the 
dry season, so called, occupying the remainder of the year; but the wet season is 
not all wet nor the diy season all r'ry, as will be seen by the above. In No- 



Climate. IS 



vember, December, January, February and March, there are many clear days 
and during the summer season showers are frequent. Flowers can be seen in 
the open air in Tacoma during every month of the year. However warm the days 
may be in summer, the nights are always cool and pleasant. Tacoma is a good 
place to sleep in and yet the inhabitants are not sleepy. Sleeping well at night 
they are ready for business during all the daylight hours. In summer the days 
are very long and in the winter correspondingly short. The long morning and 
evening twilight in summer make the days seem longer than they really are. In 
June it is light from half-past two o'clock in the morning until 9 at night. 



TACOMA AS A SHIPPING POKT. 



The natural shipping facilities at Tacoma are as nearly perfect as they may 
be found at any other place in the world. The cars' pass directly to and upon 
the outer edge of the lung railroad wharf where the water is of such depth as to 
easiiy accommodate the steamship Great Eastern. Freight is moved directly 
from car to ship or ship to car and the expense for transfer is at its minimum 
here. 

Tacoma is practically at the head of navigation on Puget Sound. What 
that means every one will understand who takes the trouble to familiarize him- 
self with the history of cities that have grown up all over the United States at 
the head of navigable waters, where the producer is brought within trading dis- 
tance of the home markets for his products. Tac<ma is the nearest safe and 

commodious harbor to the wheat growers, not only of Eastern Washington, but 
of Eastern Oregon and the Willamette valley. Before the construction of the 
railroads all the wheat grown in Oregon and Washington territory was forced to 
find its way to the markets of the world by way of the Columbia river. To this 

fact is due the remaikable growth of Port' and, which is at the head of naviga- 
tion for ocean vessels on the Willamette river. 

The dangers of the Columbia river bar are well known to ship-owners the 
world over and no sooner had it become possible to haul wheat by rail to 
Tacoma than ships were here to carry it to the markets of the world, and the 
time is not far distant when almost all of the immense wheat surplus of the 
great basin of the Columbia in Oregon and Washington territory will go on 
board ships at the wharves on Commencement bay. This alone will make 
Tacoma a great city. It is not only that many men will be employed in hand- 
ling the wheat, or that there will be profit for Tacoma in supplying the large 
number of vessels required to ship the immense wheat crops of Oregon and 
Wa>hington territory. These are small items. What is of far greater importance 
is that here the purchase price of wheat will change hands. This will be the 
money center of the Northwest. Here will be brought for distribution all over 
the United States the return cargoes of wheat vessels. Being the money center 
and the store house for immense quantities of merchandise, it will become a 
distributing point, a center of trade and manufactures. 



16 Tacoma. 



This is what every far sighted resident of this city looks forward to. He 
has seen the same results at Chicago, at San Francisco, at Duluth, the eastern 
terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad, and in a less degree at Portland, 
Oregon. / 

Ships of the largest size can, and they often do, come into Tacoma without 
the aid of pilot or tug boat. They sail right up to the wharves, load with lum- 
ber, coal, or wheat, and sail out again. Where tugs are not used, and there is 
frequently no need for them, there is jittle more expense in coming into and 
going out of this port than sailing the same distance in the open sea. 

To take a ship of 2,000 tons burden into and out of the Columbia river, and 
load her with wheat while there, costs $4,000 more than it would cost to take 
the, cargo here. 

This is the testimony of disinterested witnesses, giving facts and figures that 
cannot be gainsaid. Not only is shipping by the way of the Columbia river sub- 
ject to, these excessive charges, but when ships wish to enter the river and when 
they wish to go out, they are often prevented from doing so for weeks at a time 
by the rough water at nearly all times to be encountered on the bar at the 
mouth of that river. During all this time the interest on value of ship and 
cargo must be added to the other burdens imposed by Nature on Columbia river 
shipping. There is no time in the year when vessels large or small may not 
come to Tacoma and go away at pleasure with no bar, pilots, -tugs or treacher- 
ous sand bar to molest or make them, afraid. From Cape Flattery to Tacoma 
there is a broad deep channel on which there is always floating dozens of vessels 
and the first disaster on account of rough weather or shallow water remains to 
be chronicled, notwithstanding three times as many vessels pass up the Straits 
of Fuca during the year as brave the dangers of Columbia river bar. 

Tacoma, then, being at the head of navigation on Puget Sound, is the first 
safe and accessible harbor, and the first and only point on tide water readied by 
the Northern Pacific Railroad, and will soon become the principal wheat shipping 
port of the Northwest. 

No wheat has ever been shipped from any other port on Puget Sound. A 
glance at the map will reveal the reason for this. The Northern Pacific Railroad 
has no other tide-water terminus from which to ship produce, and even if it had 
facilities farther north than Tacoma, no wheat would be shipped there since 
Tacoma lies between the wheat country and all towns on the northern part of 
Puget Sound, and is therefore nearer the grain growing country than any other 
place where rail and ship could meet. 



COAL. 



Next in value and importance among the exports, present and future, from 
Tacoma comes coal. 

In the foot hills of the Cascade mountains and within 30 miles cf Tacoma, 
lie immense beds of bituminous coal of the best quality. These coal fields cover 



Coal. 17 

a large area about the head waters of the Puyallup river. The valley of the 
Puyallup affords an easy grade Tip which runs the railroad upon which this coal 
is hauled to Tacoma. On both sides of the valley the bluffs rise precipitately to 
a height of hundreds, in some places thousands of feet, rendering it absolutely 
impossible to build a railroad from these coal fields to the sound by any other 
route than the Puyallup valley, at the lower end of which Tacoma is located. 
Thus it will be seen that the countless thousands of tons of bituminous coal 
now being mined and to be mined near the head waters of the Puyallup must all 
come to Tacoma for shipment. The thousands of miners to be employed will draw 
their supplies from here. The Carbonado and South Prairie mines last year 
shipped over 225,000 tons of coal to Tacoma, and this output bids fair to be in- 
creased in 1887. In 1883 the Northern Pacific railroad company built, at a cost 
of $200,000, immense coal bunkers at the water front, with a capacity of 4000 
tons, which in point of convenience and rapid coal handling are superior to any 
similar works on the Pacific coast. These bunkers consist of a series of large 
iron-lined store houses, over the top of which run four railroad tracks. The 
coal is discharged from the bunkers to the ships by means of chutes which are 
moved by machinery from one point to another as desired and to suit the stage 
of the tide. 

From all accounts of mining engineers and experts in coal measures, West- 
ern Washington, the Cascade mountains and their foot hills form a vast coal 
field, the deposits of which are as varied in character as those of any coal-bear- 
ing region in the world. Nearly all of the, coal mines proper, have been found 
west of the Cascade range, and chiefly in and near the Puget Sound basin. 
There are the lignite mines at Renton and New Castle, and the bituminous and 
semi-bituminous mines adjacent to the Puyallup river, development of which 
has been made at Carbonado, South Prairie and Wilkeson. Another important 
coal field is that of Cedar on Green river, which is believed to be a continuation 
of the Puyallup veins, as it is of a bituminous character. The lignites mined at 
several points in the Sound country are of a fair quality for domestic purposes 
and are used to some extent for steam purposes; but the bituminous products of 
the Puyallup fields tributary to Tacoma take the lead of all coal mined on the 
Pacific coast for coking, blacksmith work, gas, steam making and domestic use. 
Prof. George H. Whitworth gives the Puyallup coals the preference over other 
coals in this region, terming them superior in quality. " More of them are 
coking coals; they give out more heat, and contain a larger per cent of carbon 
than the lignite. They can be used not only for steam and domestic purposes, 
but also for gas, for forge coal, and for coke. A superior article of coke can be 
produced on some of these fields which will be found valuable in the smelting 
of iron." All of these mines are tributary to Tacoma by the Cascade division, 
and are not accessible by any other route. It is estimated that two thousand 
tons of coal per day could be mined at Carbon Hill from its present openings. 
In the year 1886 there were shipped from Tacoma to San Francisco 176,330 
tons of coal mined at Carbon Hill. This property was purchased several years 



18 Tacoma. 



ago by the Pacific Improvement company one 'of the corporat'ons < wne d by the 
Southern Pacific railroad company, for the sum of $750,000, and its large pro- 
duct is used almost exclusively by the Central and Southern Pacific comp nies 
on their railroad and steamship lines. The iron steam collier Pan Pedio is em- 
ployed solely in this business, carrying 4,000 tons on each trip from Tacoma to 
San Francisco. From thp South Prairie Coal mines were shipped to Tacoma 
in 1886, 55,2li0 tons of coal, 43,226 of which were sent ly sea to San Francisco, 
and the remainder was used try the gas companies on Puget sound and for do- 
mestic purposes. 

At Wilkeson the Tacoma Coal company is engaged in erecting furnaces for 
the manufacture of coke on an extensive scale, and is shipping its pn d ct to 
San Francisco, Victoria, Oregon, Montana and other points. English experts 
at Victoria pronounce this coke to be equ*al to the let English coke. Faroe 
quantities of Pennsylvania coke are now shipped to Butte and Helena, but it 
will be gradually superseded by Wilkeson or Puyallup coke shipped by way of 
the Cascade division of the Northern Pacific railroad. From the s:ime mine a 
superior quality of blacksmith coal is taken, which already supplies a wide 
market. The value of these products to Tacoma will be inestimable, (heap 
coking coal means the establishment here of gigantic iron works, of smelting 
and reduction works, and various manufactur ng industries, which inevitably 
accompany the production at any point of cheap iron. 

But Puget sound is not al ne remarkable for its vast coal deposits. Iron 
ore of the best quality in ledges which seem to be inexhaustible, is found in 
various parts of Western Washington, much of it within easy distance of t de 
water, particularly near the very coal required for its reduction and like the coal 
tributary to Tacoma. The attention of eastern manufacturers has been attracted 
to Tacoma as a point for the erection of iron works on an extensive scale, and 
investigations have resulted favorably so far as quantity and quality of contigu- 
ous iron deposits are concerned. The three necessary factors in the product, on 
of iron and steel, cheap coal, ore and limestone, with facilities for cheap transpor- 
tation by sea and rail render the erection of large iron works at Tacoma inevita- 
ble. The cost of transportation from eastern points of iron alone will furnish a 
handsome profit to the manufacturer, as growing home and foreign markets 
await the establishment of such works. 

MANUFACTURING 



Iron and wood form the basis of the great bulk of manufactured articles of 
prime necessity. Where these are obtainable in the raw state at sma 1 cost 
factories are sure to spring up and become profitable, provid d that a market b/3 
near at hand, as is the case here. Another important requisite for a large manu- 
facturing city is transp (nation facilities. Tacoma possesses a ! l these advantages 
in a marked degree. Heretofore it has imported the great bulk of the products 
consumed by its people. Now the course of trade is changing. Whice lumber, 



Manufacturing. 19 






coal and wheat have been for years shipped from our wharves to foreign and 
coast ports, we have imported flour and feed, furniture, boots and shoes and 
most other articles of daily use, at the same time sending away the raw mate- 
vials from which these goods are made. Every new frontier town or settlement 
undergoes a similar experience, until capital and skilled labor come in to take 
advantage of the local market. Though manufacturing operations have been 
extended with the growth of the town, outside capitalists, sometimes influenced 
by the clamor of jealous neighboring towns which has persistently declared the 
Cascade division railroad would never be built, have delayed and hesitated in 
carrying out designs to locate large works of various kinds at this point. Still 
fair progress has been made in the introduction of home manufactures, until it 
may be said that Tacoma leads all places on Pviget Sound in the amount of 
money paid as wages to mechanics and artisans. The establishments now in 
operation here embrace iron and brass foundries, machine shops, Northern Pa- 
cific railroad car and locomotive shops, five saw r mills within the city limits, and 
several others in Pierce county. The Tacoma Mill Company has the largest 
sawmill on the Sound, employing some 500 men at the mill and in their logging 
camps, and manufacturing over 200,000 feet of lumber per day, shipping the 
great bulk of this product to foreign ports and the San Francisco market, em- 
ploying a fleet of five large vessels of their own. There are constantly loading 
at their wharves, ships destined for Mexico, South and Central America, China, 
Australia and Japan. Frequently a cargo of ships' spars and other fine lumber 
is sent to New York or Boston, via Cape Horn. This mill cut in 1886, 53,793,- 
000 feet of lumber and 15,000,000 laths; 83 cargoes left their wharves, 30 of 
which went to foreign ports. The company's pay roll was $220,000. The mer- 
cantile establishment connected with this mill is one of the largest on the shores 
of the Sound. The four smaller sawmills within the city limits cut about forty 
million feet of lumber per annum, which is all used for the local trade, and this 
leads to the remark that there is no other city in the" northwest in which so 
many buildings were yearly erected during the prevailing hard times following 
the " Villard boom " as in Tacoma. In wood-working, there is a large and well- 
equipped furniture factory, three planing mills, two sash and door factories, a 
shingle mill, for the products of which there is a large eastern demand. Our 
superior cedar shingles are shipped by the carload as far east as Pennsylvania. 
Machinery is being put in by the' Tacoma Planing Mill Company for wooden- 
ware works on a considerable scale. The flouring mills at the head of the bay, 
in this city, the first of the kind on Puget Sound, are fitted up with the latest 
modern machinery, and have a capacity of 100 barrels of fine flour per day. As 
Tacoma is acknowledged, on account of its facilities for transportation and its 
position, as the destined wheat shipping port of the Sound, to be the most fav- 
orable point for the manufacture of flour, there is no doubt that extensive mills 
will be erected here shortly. Tacoma and Puget Sound have emerged from 
thtir period of dependence on other localities for many articles of necessity 
and are approaching the exporting period. There is no part of the country in- 



20 Tacoma, 



creasing as rapidly in population as our northwest, and the general tendency of 
events including the legislative drift, seems to favor local industries and enter- 
prises. 

There are a variety of other manufacturing establishments in Tacoma. 
Steamers, sail boats, brooms, boots and shoes, tin and galvanized iron wire, soda 
water, etc., etc. Brick making is carried on at several points in the vicinity, for 
the supply of this market, notably at Fox island, where an excellent article of 
drain and sewer tile is being made. Suitable clay for pottery exists in abund- 
ance at tide water, and this industry will soon be established. 



GAME AND FISH. 



For those who would hunt, there is in the neighborhood of Tacoma a hunt- 
ing ground where the hunter may forget the existence of such a thing as civili- 
zation, and where he may have his choice of game. During the season when 
hunting is permitted, the slayed deer decorates the meat markets of Tacoma. 
Of smaller game, ducks, geese, grouse, rabbits and pheasants, there is no end. 
Puget Sound is the sportsman's "paradise. For those who would fish, there is 
the whole of Puget Sound with its innumerable coves and bays and the river 
emptying into Commencement Bay with dozens of creeks large and small empty- 
ing into the river. In the kSound are caught salmon, salmon trout, halibut, torn 
cod, rock cod, perch, flounders and herring. All of the streams and lakes in 
this neighborhood are numerously peopled with trout of large size and delight- 
ful flavor. But it is the industrial aspect of fishing in this vicinity that most 
challenges attention to it. Besides the fish that are canned, large quantities are 
shipped fresh to the interior towns and especially to Portland, Oregon. Hither- 
to more attention has been paid to salmon than the other varieties. Herring 
which will not unlikely become one of the chief sources of the wealth of the 
Territory have been neglected. The waters of Puget Sound are alive with these 
fish. From the wharves at Tacoma and every port on the Sound, millions of 
them can be seen in the clear waters. The fishing interest, like the coal and 
the wheat, will also center at Tacoma as being the commercial center of the 
Sound and the point of distribution, by means of its railroads, to the other parts 
of the world. 

Mr. James Whitman, an able and distinguished journalist, whose corre- 
spondence has been of great value in calling attention to the merits of this re- 
gion, in a letter to the American Field, an established authority on out-door 
sports, says: 

"Grouse and pheasants are plenty all through the territory of Western 
Washington, and a short distance from the towns along the Olympian or Coast 
Kange of Mountains very good elk shooting can be had. The best way of 
reaching the elk grounds is by steamer from Tacoma to a distance of about fifty 
miles. The best duck shooting is on the tide flats at the mouths of the many 
rivers emptying into Puget Sound. Three of the best duck grounds are the 



Pleasure Drives and Resorts. 21 

Puyallup Flats, directly in the rear of 'The Tacoma.' Nesqually Flats, about 
twenty miles up the Sound, and Swinotuish Flats, about fifty miles down th e 
Sound. 

" While there is good trout fishing in all the streams within easy driving 
distance of Tacoma, from twenty to seventy miles out along the line of the Cas- 
cade division of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which can be reached daily, the 
finest trout streams in America can be found. Green River, along which the 
railway runs on the western slope of the mountains, is particularly good for 
such fishing. September and October are the best months for salmon fishing in 
the Sound. They are generally caught by trolling with a spoon, and it has 
been commonly supposed that they do not rise to the fly; but this is a mistake, 
as numerous fly fishers can testify. It is something like the case of the black 
bass in more Eastern waters which can be taken by the fly, when properly an- 
gled for therewith, more readily than by the spoon or bait." 



PLEASURE DRIVES AND RESORTS. 






Passing by the great sport of yachting on the Sound, the pleasures of 
which are too obvious to need reciting, it is pertinent to indicate the fields for 
the pursuit of pleasure on land. For those who would drive, there are good 
roads. Within three miles south of Tacoma and connected with it by a broad, 
smooth highway, is the edge of a natural park, twenty miles in length and five 
miles in width, fringed with fir trees and dotted with highly ornamental ever- 
greens and small oak, and here and there a lake bordered with pine and hazel 
brush. Around and through this, one may drive winter and summer in any di- 
rection. It is covered with a thin grass and in early summer with myriads of 
flowers. The wheels of the carriage move noiselessly along over the grass, and 
one could almost believe he was riding over velvet. It has been said and it is 
doubtless true that no other city in the Northwest is so favored as Tacoma by 
the close proximity, beauty and attractiveness in all respects of a natural park 
and pleasure ground. The smooth, level and rolling character of the surface 
and the arrangement that nature has made in placing the ornamental trees of 
evergreen and oak in this pleasure ground, practically on the verge of the city, 
are such as to suggest the hand of art in greatly more than its accustomed tri- 
umph. In the most northerly portion of this park is located the only race track 
near Tacoma. The land was recently purchased for this use by a company or- 
ganized in Tacoma and here it is intended to hold the races and fairs. In the 
adjoining sections at a distance of less than half a mile from the race track is the 
property known as the Tacoma Lakes and possessing such elements of attrac- 
tion as are certain to make it the chief objective point for pleasure drives from 
the city. These lakes, the larger of which is about one mile in length by a 
quarter of a mile in width and, which though only about two miles from the 
city, have an elevation of nearly 400 feet, are surrounded by the forest which 
for the entire distance of shore line extends to the water's edge. At a distance 



2% Tacoma. 



of about 12 miles and in the open prairie are found what are known as the 
Gravelly and American Lakes, a region of great beauty, adding much to the 
attractiveness of the country which immediately surrounds the terminal city. 

For the more adventurous, for those who love grand scenery and are will- 
ing to risk life and limb to view it, there are, besides the grand scenery in view 
from any part of this townsite, the glaciers of Mount Tacoma, within a day's 
journey, where acres upon acres of ic3, hundreds of feet thick, can be seen. 
It is these glaciers that give the icy coldness to the waters of the Puyallup river 
and its tributaries. Add to the resorts mentioned the superb waters of Com- 
mencement Bay for boating, and we may reasonably say that Tacoma has in 
striking degree and variety a fullness of resources for the entertainment and 
delight of those who would seek pleasure. 

, Mount Tacoma is, of course, the overshadowing scenic feature of Western 
Washington. Either viewed from a distance, or approached and ascended (and 
this feat has been frequently accomplished), it is a perpetual wonder and de- 
light. It is one of the rarest gems in nature's vast programme of beauty, ren- 
dered memorable by Indian legends, by poet and painter. The eye never tires 
in watching its varied phases, as it is influenced by atmospheric changes and the 
solar rays. The sight of it is an ample excuse for a continental trip, and the 
exploration of its living glaciers and icy streams furnishes a vivid incentive to 
the interested observer of great natural phenomena as well as to the scientist. 
Mount Tacoma has fifteen glaciers, three of which have been rendered accessi- 
ble to visitors. Ascent to the height of 10,000 feet is very easily made — the first 
8,000 feet on horseback and the remainder over wide fields of perennial snow. 
Hon. George F. Edmunds, United States Senator from Vermont, visited these 
glaciers in 1883 in company with General Manager Oakes and Assistant General 
Manager Buckley of the Northern Pacific road, one of the first parties of visit- 
ors to the mountain after the trail had been opened, and the senator afterwards 
spoke thus warmly of what he saw: 

"I have been through the Swiss Mountains, and am compelled to own that 
there is no comparison between the finest effects exhibited there and what is 
seen in approaching this grand and isolated mountain. I would be willing to 
go five hundred miles again to see that scene. The continent is yet in ignor- 
ance of what will be one of the grandest show places as well as sanitariums. If 
Switzerland is rightly called the play ground of Europe, I am satisfied that 
around the base of Mount Tacoma will become a prominent place of resort, 
not for America only, but for the world besides." 

At the Great Hotel at Tacoma, careful guides and complete camping outfts 
will be provided on two days' notice. Excursion parties are frequently made 
up during the summer season, the entire trip being free from difficulty or danger, 
even to ladies. 



Prices of Lands. 28 



PRICES OF TOWN LOTS AND OUTSIDE LANDS. 



.The streets of Tacoma are all 80 feet wide, the alleys 40 feet wide and the 
avenues 10 J leet wide. Lots are 25 feet wide and 120 feet deep. The blocks 
west of Tacoma avenue, contain 12 lots each; those east of Tacoma avenue 26 
lots each. In that part of t >wn where lots are offered for sale the timber has 
all been cut down and partially burned up. As far west as K street, or about 
20 blocks back from the water, the streets are opened up and many of them 
grad d and sidev\alks are proviled. Residence lots can be had at prices rang- 
ing from $100 to $1,000, according to location. The most desirable lots for res- 
idence, however, are not those that command the highest price. Between C 
street, Tacoma avenue, G street and Yakima avenue there is little choice, except 
that the avenues are 20 feei wider than the streets. Lots on E street and Taco- 
ma avenue c-n be had for $500 or $600 each ; on G street for $400 or $500, and 
on Yakima avenue for about the same or a little less. It is usual for a person 
building a residence to buy two or more lots. Business lots sell at prices \aiy- 
ing from $1,500 to $10,01)0. Lots with good buildings on them can be bought, 
but it is cheaper to buy lots from the Tacoma Land Compmy and put up such 
buil iings as are desired. The Land Company sells on time, usually requiring 
purchasers to pay one-third cash and the remainder in a year and to build dur- 
ing that time a house to cost a specified sum. All deferred payments bear in- 
terest at ten per cent, per annum. This policy of the company requiring im- 
provements to be made on all the lots sold has had the effect of preventing real 
estate speculation and keeping prices of land within reasonable bounds. It has 
given a healthy tone to the real estate market, restraining to a solid basis the 
va'uations that are placed upon town property. The company has established 
a schedule of prices which are raised gradually as the increase in population 
wai rants, but there are no sudden and wide fluctuations in prices nor any breaks 
in ihe real esiate market. Outside lands, within a distance of six miles, sell at 
prices ranging from $35 to $800 per acre, according to distance and quality of 
contained soil. Some of the better clay loam fir land not cleared, distant from 
the boundary about two miles by the government survey lines, has recently 
sold as high as $100 per acre. The terms of sale by the Land Company are 
one-third cash and the balance in one year. 



AGRICULTURAL LAND. 



Within a short time the fact has been demonstrated that a large portion of 
our lands that for the last two decades have been considered of no value except 
for their timber, is in reality more valuable than much of the land that has 
heretofore been farmed in this neighborhood. So that it can be truthfully said 
that Tacoma is surrounded by an agricultural country. 

Within five miles of the town the Tacoma Land Company is selling land 
to sf ttlers in small tracts, requiring certain improvements to be made and giv- 
ing time in which to pay most of the purchase money. Of the even sections 



24 Tacoma. 



there remains but little land open to settlement under the public land laws, in 
the neighborhood of Tacoma — none within a distance of six miles from the city. 
The lands of the odd numbered sections are owned by the railroad company 
and are for sale at reasonable prices and on easy terms. There are good wagon 
roads leading through the timber in various directions so that settlers will only 
be obliged to make short roads connecting their places with the main roads. 

The land around Tacoma is of four very different kinds: the valley lands, 
the hardhack swamps, the clay uplands and the gravelly lands. 

Of the last named it may be said that they are, for the larger part, of little 
or no agricultural value. Much of the land of this class is, however, adapted to 
the production of vegetables, fruit and grain, being mixed with dark mold that 
is quite rich. During the spring and early summer they are covered with a short 
grass and, in many places, with a wild pea vine that affords excellent pasture. 

At the top of the hill back of Tacoma. lies a narrow strip of this gravelly 
land extending back to the prairie or natural park, mentioned above, and which 
is itself an immense bed of fine gravel on which in spring time grass and flowers 
take the place of the wild pea vine in the timber. The valley lands are, for the 
most part, taken up and cultivated, as they are easily cleared and highly pro- 
ductive. The Tacoma Land Company, however, owns some land in the Puy- 
allup valley and the Railroad Company also owns some land there. The most 
valuable body of valley lands in the vicinity of Tacoma is comprised in the In- 
dian reservation. 

Most of the land near Tacoma is of a clay loam soil, heavily timbered with 
fir and cedar. On account of the heavy growth of timber, it has, until lately, 
been neglected. The increased demand for farm products, however, has given 
such a value to cleared land that in the vicinity of large towns it now pays to 
clear up this land, which, when once under cultivation, is as productive as that 
of the valley, and much more durable. 

The fourth variety of soil is what is known as hardhack swamp land, which 
is a vegetable mold. Of this there is but a comparatively small quantity. It 
is found usually in small oval patches of 10 to 100 acres each, and invariably re- 
quires drainage. It is easily subdued, being covered with a thick growth of 
small brush which can be cut with a brush scythe. It is also easily drained by 
cutting a ditch through the rim of clay /vith which it is surrounded. 

There are many small creeks running through the country back of Tacoma, 
and where there are no creeks, water of excellent quality and endless quantity, 
is obtained from wells 15 to 20 feet deep. One such well has been known to fur- 
nish enough water for 150 head of stock. 

On all this land except the gravel, as shown, grass, fruits and vegetables 
thrive. There is no place in the world where it is easier to grow fruits and veg- 
etables of all sorts — except peaches and hot weather fruits — than on the land 
around Tacoma. The richness of the soil and the moist, temperate climate 
adapt Western Washington to the growing of grass and the industries connected 
therewith — stock raising and the dairy. Land suitable for dairy business and 



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Timber. 25 

stock raising can be bought in tracts of from 40 to 640 acres within a few miles 
of Tacoma. The price varies from $5 to §50 an acre for unimproved land. 



TIMBER. 



Tacoma is in the heart of the most famous timber region in the world, and 
this is of course one of the greatest sources of its natural wealth. A dense 
forest of fir trees is visible in all directions from the city, to the east and north 
across the waters of the Sound, southward along the railroad, and to the west in 
the rear of the city. The exterior limits of this timber belt are, generally, the 
summit of the ridge of the Cascade range of mountains on the east, the Pacific 
ocean on the west; and it extends across the Columbia river into Oregon on the 
south, and through British Columbia and far beyond to the north, approxima- 
tely 600 to S00 miles long by say sixty miles in width. It has been estimated 
that within the boundaries named the yield of lumber to the acre will average 
25,000 feet, running in some localities as high as 60,000 feet to the acre. But 
at the average given, we have in Western Washington alone 172,800,000,000 
feet. The amount cut since lumbering began on the Sound some thirty years 
ago, is estimated at 2,500,000,000 feet, or only a small fraction of the whole, 
leaving yet to be drawn upon the enormous quantity of 170,300,000,000 feet. 
The drafts that are likely to be made against this supply for a century to come, 
although undoubtedly great, must, when compared to the aggregate of standing 
timber, be comparatively light. Fir, spruce and cedar are the principal growths. 
There are two grades of timber known in the trade, as sap and overgrown, the 
former yielding some 7,000 feet to the tree and the latter from 8,000 to 15,000 
feet. The sap fir does not grow as high as the other, which grows to a height 
of 120 feet, without a limb, and sometimes to 160 feet. At present, logging for 
the mills located on the Sound is done chiefly along the tributary streams. This 
system of logging will gradually give way to the railroad on which logs are 
hauled, on trucks specially constructed and adapted for the purpose, from the 
interior to the shores of the Sound, where they are rolled into the water, gath- 
ered in booms and towed to the mills. The lumber manufactured on Puget 
Sound is shipped to England, France, China, Japan, Australia and the Sand- 
wich Islands, the western coast of South America, Mexico and California, and 
upon the completion of the Cascade Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
the prairie wheat land of Eastern Washington and Idaho will derive their chief 
supply of lumber from this quarter. 



CLEARING LAND. 



The expense of removing the timber from fir land is not so great as might 
be imagined, by strangers, from the formidable proportions of the trees. If the 
tract which it is desired to clear lies in the vicinity of a sawmill or the waters of 
the Sound, and is accessible for logging purposes, the first thing to do, of course* 



£6 Tacoma. 



is to take out all the timber which would do for saw logs. If the timber hap- 
pens to be up to the average in quality and quantity there isat once available 
in the slum page the means to pay a large proportion of the cost of cleaning, the 
stumpage being valuable in proportion to its distance from the mill or the 
shore of the Sound and the expense of moving it. But leaving the aid of the 
stumpage out of the case, the fir timber may be removed by fire at far less ex- 
pense tnan would be suspected by the novice. If the aim is to clear without 
saving the timber, the necessary operation is a very simple one. The woodman 
brings into requisition a two-inch auger, by means of which he bores two holes 
in ihe trunk of the standing tree near the ground, one of which holes is hori- 
zontal and the other from a point above the first, downward, in an oblique di- 
rection, so as to meet the first, thus forming a continuous passage which serves 
as a flue. A few hardwood coals are then placed in the horizontal bore and 
these soon kindling against the resinous wails of the bore, set up a fire which, 
rapidly increasing, burns its way through the trunk, felling it in a short time. 
When on the ground, the trunk is disposed of by like means, a set of similar 
holes being bored and fired every few feet for its entire length. The limbs are 
then cut off, and with the brush in the immediate neighborhood, are thrown 
upon the fires thus made. The stumps of trees that have been cut down are 
disposed of in like manner. Many trees are so charged with pitch that the 
single fire used in felling them has continued to burn until the entire trunk has 
been consumed, together with the bark, as far as to the top branches. The 
pitch contained in the fir timber is the important agent of this ready and com- 
paratively cheap destruction by fire. Hence it is that the cost of clearing 
the timber from fir land, including the removal of stumps, will average only 
about $100 per acre, at which rate the service can be contracted for. Slashing- 
is done usually in the winter. That is, the small trees and brush are then cut 
down and the trees felled so that when the dry season arrives the fire will not 
have the moisture of the sap to contend with, and a general burning is accom- 
plished which saves much labor. The cost of clearing the bottom lands of vine 
maple, alder, cottonwood, and the other light growths common to such lands in 
this region varies from $40 to $75 per acre. 

HOUSES AM) COST OF BUILIHINU. 



The number and good quality of the buildings erected during the past jear 
furnish conclusive evidence that there is here a capacity for growth and im- 
provement only to be found in a self-supporting community with resources. 
The cost of building does not differ materially here from the cost of the same 
class of work in the Eastern States and Mississippi valley. Carpenters' wages 
are $2 50 to $3.00 per day. Brick masons get $5.00 and stone cutters $4 00 per 
day. Unskilled labor commands ,^2.00 per day. Kough lumber sells for $10,00 
per M feet; flooring for $18.00 and $13.00, according to quality, and finishing 
lumber for $20,00 to $30.00, the latter price for clear cedar dressed. The price 



Houses and Cost of Building. 27 

of dressed fir is $18.00 ner M: shingles, $2.15; lath, $2.15; moulding, \ cent 
each foot: pickets \\\ by \%), 1 .] cents each foot. The above are prices de- 
livered in the city. Br.ck of fair quality in quantities cost $10.00 per M. Infe- 
rior brick can be had f,.r SS.00 and upwards. The demand for brick has been 
in excess of the supply, which accounts for the high prices named. Very close 
to Tacoma there is a (.lay of good quality from wbich excellent brick can be 
made, and, if done on a large scale, at much lower prices than are now paid for 
a good article. Stone, of which there is a great abundance and of the best quality, 
costs $4.50 per yard, and dimension stone 75 cents per cubic foot. The build- 
ing stone used at Tacoma is quarried at Wilkeson, about thirty miles from Ta- 
coma, and brought to the city by rail. The Wilkeson stone is a beautiful light 
gray sandstone of great durability. It is largely use 1 for foundations, and with 
the increasing wealth of the inhabitants of Tacoma, will be used more exten- 
sively for building purposes and docks. This quarry of choice building stone is 
another of the facilities for permanent and substantial improvement possessed 
by the terminal city and denied to all other towns on Puget Sound. 



28 



Tacoma. 



RETAIL MARKET PRICES. 



July 1, 1887. 



HARDWARE. 

Nails f> keg, from lOd to 60d. $3.50 3 70 
do do lathing, 3d fine. 6 70 

do do finishing 3 50 @ 4 50 

do f> lb, retail 5 (g> 7 

Iron, refined bar, ^ rb 5 @ 8 

Iron, Norway, bar, '# lb 5 © 7 

Steel, refined bar, ^ lb 15 © 

Horseshoes, ^ lb 6 © 

Hoop iron, ^ lb 4%@ 

Axes, handled 100 #1 

Hatchets 50 @ 1 

Door locks, $ doz 3 50 ©18 00 

Butts, common door, ^ doz @ 1 00 

Butts, assorted sizes, f> doz. 1 00 ©2 00 

Strap hinges, ^ pair 15 @ 75 

Grindstones, ^ lb 3 @ 

Sash weights, ^ lb 3 © 

Shovels and Spades 75 ©1 

Cross-cut saws, ^ foot 50 © 1 

Handsaws, each 75 ©2 50 

Screws, f> gross 15 © 2 00 

Picks and Mattocks, each. . . 1 00 © 1 

Powder, f> lb 25 © 

Shot, "# lb 10 @ 

Rope, f> lb 15 @ 

Cot rope & seine twine ^ lb. 35 @ 

Axle grease, "<$ box 25 @ 

Lard oil, '§> gal 85 © 1 

Belting, 3-in. single, f. foot. 

do 6-m. single, "f> foot. 

do 8-in. single, "tf> foot. 

Rubber packing, ^ lb 

GROCERIES. 

Eastern lard, f> lb 10 @ 

Cheese, ~f> lb 16 (g> 

Butter, $ lb 25 @ 

Dried apples, ^ lb 7 @ 

Dried peaches, ^ lb 15 @ 

Soda, "tf, lb 8 C# 

Java Coffee, ^ lb 25 (a) 

Costa Rica, ^ lb 25 (a> — 

Rio coffee, $ lb 25 @ — 

Tea, ^ lb, best family 35 @ 1 00 

Sugar, f> lb 6%@ 

Salt, $ lb 75 (a) 1 

Rice, V lb 6 @ 

Candles, $ box 2 50 ($3 

Soap, <£ box 50 @ 2 

Kerosene, $ case 2 25 @ 

Arbuckle coffee, $ lb 

Asrt. table frts, $ 2% lb can. 25 @ 

Assorted pie fruits, $ can.. 20 @ 

Canned vegetables 16%(a) 

Prunes, $ lb 10 (0 

Currents, $ lb 10 @ 



6 

50 
25 



35 
00 



50 
75 
15 
18 
50 
50 
50 
33 
69 
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30 



20 
35 
10 
20 
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10 
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30 



20 
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Raisins, Valencias 15 @ — 

Raisins, seedless 20 © — 

Corned beef, 2-lb cans 25 @ — 

Baking powder, Royal, 16 oz 50 (a) — 

do do Pioneer, 16 oz 50 @ — 

Candy, stick, ^ lb 20 @ — 

do mixed, $ lb 20 © — 

Spices, 4-oz cans, assorted. . 15 (g> 25 

Chickory, $ lb 10 @ — 

Buckets, cedar, painted 25 (g> 40 

Wash tubs, according to size 25 (a) 1 25 

Syrup, ty gallon 70 © 75 

do maple, $ gallon 125 @ — 

Peas, split, $ lb 8 @ 10 

Beans, 1* lb 3 @ 5 

Pearl barl'y.tapioca,sago^ft 8 @ 10 

PRODUCE. 

Wheat, ty cwt 1 60 @ 1 75 

Oats, $ cwt 1 70 @ 1 80 

Barley, $ cwt 160 @ — 

Potatoes, ^ lb, l'ACq) 1% 

Flour, $ bbl 4 25 @ 5 00 

Chickens, $ doz 2 50 @ 3 00 

Onions, "& lb 2 © 4 

Hams, V lb 12%@ 16 

Shoulders, $ lb 10 (# 12 

Bacon, $ lb 9 @ 15 

Eggs, ^ doz., fresh 20 @ 30 

Hay, $ ton 20 00 ($ — 

Chop barley, $ cwt 1 50 @ 1 75 

Bran 1 40 

Shorts 1 50 

MEAT. 

Beef, ^ lb 8 © 20 

Mutton, ^ lb 8 @ 15 

Pork, $ lb 10 © 15 

Veal, $ lb 10 © 20 

Venison, $ lb 10 © 15 

Corned beef, $ lb 8 © 10 

Pickled pork, $ lb 12^@ — 

Sausage, $ lb 12^© 15 

Bologna, $ lb 12^@ 15 

Lamb, $ lb 12J^@ 15 

HIDES AND SKINS. 

Salted. 

Heavy steer (over 55), $ lb.. 7 @ 8 

Medium steer (48@50), ^ lb.. 6 @ — 

Light steer (40@48), $ lb 5^@ 6 

Kips ~ 7 @ 10 

Dairy calf, according to 

qualitv and weight each... 50 @ 75 

Dry hides, as to quality 12 (# 14 

Sheep pelts, as to quality.... 15 @ 1 00 

Tallow 4 @ S 



Municipal Government. 29 

Farm produce of every kind sells readily at good prices; the increase of 
consumers is more rapid than the ircreise of production, so that for years to 
come prices will keep up. Farming is profitable. Of all the articles of farm 
produce the supply has never in the history of Western Washington been in ex- 
cess of the demand, and until the influx of people from the older States and 
from Europe ceases— and this will not probably occur for many years to come — 
the demand will continue to keep pace with the supply, insuring prices which 
afford large profits to the farmer. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



The city is governed by a Mayor and City Council consisting of eight mem- 
bers, two from each of the four wards, together with such other minor officers 
as are common to municipal governments, including a clerk, a city attorney, 
assessor, collector, treasurer, street commissioner, three committing magistrates, 
and a chief of police, who has supervision of the police. The chief of police> 
and the other minor officers, except the treasurer, are chosen by the council. 
The annual municipal election is held on the first Tuesday of May of each and 
every year. Tacoma is one of the most orderly communities on the Pacific 
coast. It is well governed and life and property are under good protection. 
Crime is of such rare occurrence, and there are so few arrests for petty offenses, 
that the business of the committing magistrates has not yet grown to be lucra- 
tive. For the purpose of supporting this government, and for the repairs of 
streets and for other public demands, the charter confers power: 

1. "To levy and collect taxes for general municipal purposes, not to exceed 
one-half of one per centum per annum upon all property, both real and per- 
sonal, within the city, which is by law taxable for territorial and county pur- 
poses, upon the valuation shown by the annual assessment made by Pierce 
county; and to levy and collect special taxes upon the same assessed valuation 
as hereinafter provided. But all taxes for general and special municipal pur- 
poses, exclusive of claims against property owners for improvements as herein- 
after provided, shall not exceed, in any one year, one and a half per centum of 
the property assessed." 

The finances of the city are in good condition. An additional tax of five 
mills on the dollar may be levied by the city council when so authorized by the 
vote of the qualified electors of the city. The council is also authorized to col- 
lect a road poll tax not exceeding four dollars on every male inhabitant of the 
city, except paupers, insane persons and active firemen. 

The clerk reports the ordinary expenses of the city corporation from July 
1st, 1886, to July 1st, 1887: For general purposes, $16,795.63; repairs of roads, 
$8,746.82; paid for salaries, $12,954.16: for the public schools, $7,151.61. The 
amount paid out for street improvements finished July 1, 1887, was $30,837.67 
There is now under way or to be contracted for immediately about $40,000 of 
street improvements. 



30 Tacoma. 



The total receipts for the year were $83,314.34 

" '■ expenditures " " i c 76,666.26 

Leaving a balance in treasury .July 1, 1887, of $ 0,648.27 

And the actual indebtedness of the city July 1. 1887, was „ $11,796.13 

The rapid growth of the city and the progressive character of its people 
may be gathered from these figures, as well as the sound financial condition of 
the local government. 

PIERCE COUNTY FINANCES. 

Pierce county, of which Tacoma is the seat of government, had a total as- 
sessed valuation in 1880 of $6,098,908. Total county taxes 16% mills on the 
dollar, divided as follows: Territorial, 2% mills; county, 7 mills; school, 6 mills; 
road, 1 mill. Total county indebtedness, June 30, 1887, $29,934.69, against 
which should be placed the value of county buildings and property, which 
would largely reduce this aggregate. County valuation, 1880, $1,722,855; popu- 
lation, 1878, 2885; 1885 (last county census), 11,087; estimated population of 
the countv for 1887, 18,000. 



CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 



The interests of religion and education are more forward in the extreme 
West than is usually supposed in the Ea-t to be the case. On these points Ta- 
coma is second to no community in the Northwest. We have churches well at- 
tended of nearly all denominations. In respect to cost and beauty of structure, 
the Episcopal, called the St. Luke's Memorial church, is in the lead. The walls 
of this splendid building are of solid stone masonry of the beautiful grey sand- 
stone of the Wilkes .n quarry. It was built by Mr. Charles B. Wright (who has 
taken such a distinguished part in the affairs < f the Northern Pacific Eailroad 
as a President and one of the foremost stockholders of the company) in memory 
of a deceased daughter and at a cost of $30,000. It is a beautiful specimen of 
gothic architecture, occupies a commanding position on C street, near the brow 
of the hill, and stands prominently in view from the bay and the valley, as well 
as from many parts of the city. The Presbyterians, Methodists, German Meth- 
odists, Scandinavian Methodists, Catholics, Cougregationalists, Baptists, 
Scandinavian Baptists, and German Lutherans, have commodious and 
good church buildings. A list of the churches, with their pastors, may 
be found in the latter part of this book. There is as large a population 
of earntst Christians in Tacoma as will be found in any community on the 
Pacific coast. While society does not here revolve so exclusively in church 
orders as in some Eastern towns, there is yet in each communion a little 
social world which newcomers of even moderate religions inclinations 
naturally enter. Members of churches do not long remain strangers. Con- 
sidering the population of Tacoma the educational facilities of the city are 



Churches and Schools. SI 

not sir. anywhere. There is a large public school building centrally lo- 

cated and built at a cost of $25,000, which for sireugth and beauty, as well as 
for convenience in the arrangement of its apartments, an 1 ind< o all of it- 

appointments, i- equal to the best school building in the city < f San Fraud- 
There are rive publi 1 buildings owned by the city, which cost nearly 

ait Si Four of them an 3t ruction and equipped with 

ry appliance and convenience f>r the education of children and youth after 
the >ved graded system, embracing primary, grammar and higher de- 

partments, and rntd by a City Su] : intendent. who is als the Principal 

of the Central school. 

In addition to the facilities afforded by the public schools, we have those of 
another important and attractive educational institution, namely: the Aunie 
"Wright Seminary, for girls, endowed by and named after the daughter of Mr. 
"Wright, the same gentleman to whom we owe the splendid stone church men- 
tioned. This seminary is conducted under the a the Episcopal church- 
the Bishop of which for the jurisdiction of Washington Territory, the Ruht 
Rev. J hn A. Paddock, has his residence in Taeoma. It is un »:er the immediate 
charge of Mrs. L. H. Wells. Principal, and the Chaplain officiating is the Rev. 
L. H. Wells, Rect St. Luke's Memorial Church. The building which is 
represented herein by a lith. graphic view - To aid from the same 
liberal gentleman Taeoma owes also the Washington College for boys, lately 
built at a - id for which there is an endowment from Mr. Wright 
of $ ling citizens of Taeoma have shown their appreciation of edu- 
cational facilities, as wtll as their enterprise and public siiiitedness. by contrib- 
uting towaid the cost of ;he building the sum of | _ " )0, Each of these insti- 
tutions owi.s several blocks of the rnost valuable land in the residence portion of 
the city which was given by the Taeoma Land Company. 

HOTELS. 



In pursuance of the policy of enhancing the value of their large property, 
hereby forwarding the interests of the city in all legitimate ways, the Taeoma 
Land C< mpany has erected and elaborately furnished in Taeoma a large stone 
and brick hotel at a cost of §2 "OU. This hotel, fashioned alter the famous 
Hotel del Monte, built by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Monterey. 
California, is a finer hotel building than any other now to be found on the Pa- 
cific coast north of San Francisco. It is rive stories in height, and is situated 
■ >n the cliff in such a position as erlook the water front of the city for near- 

ly its entire length, and to command from it- eastern front a view of tn paral- 
leled beamy and grandeur. It was opened for the reception of visitors about 
July 1- Situated at an elevation of one hundred feet above the war - 

of Commencement Bay. commanding a charming view of the Sound, the Puy- 
allup river and valh Mount Taeoma, and of the snow-cappe 

range, within sight of the best hunting and fishing grounds of' the Northw< 



82 Tacoma. 



thoroughly equipped with every modern improvement including electric bells, 
gas, baths, hydraulic elevator, steam heat, and an unsurpassed water and sewer- 
age system, it is beyond doubt the most enjoyable summer resort on the North 
Pacific coast. A cuisine of peculiar excellence, large, well ventilated rooms, and 
furniture of the latest and best design, insure the visitor every comfort any 
eastern hotel of the first rank can offer. Tourists or business men en route to 
or from the Sound ports will find this hotel a delightful stopping place. 

There are at present ten hotels open to the public in Tacoma, but they are 
found barely sufficient at times to accommodate the increasing number of trav- 
elers and emigrants. The charges at the hotels are reasonable and range from 
$1.50 to $3 00 per day. At the restaurants good meals can be had for 25 to 50 
cents. Regular table boarding costs $4.50 to $6.00 per week. 



GAS, ELECTRIC LIGHTS AND WATER. 



Gas works of the most permanent and substantial sort were constructed 
here at heavy cost during the year 1884 by the Tacoma Light and Water Com- 
pany. These works are situated in the southern part of the city, the gasholder 
having a capacity of 55,500 cubic feet. The buildings, except the coal shed, are 
all of brick, and are built on a foundation of natural cement. The coal from 
which the gas is made is mined at South Prairie, 25 miles east of Tacoma, on 
the Cascade division of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is of the most supe- 
rior quality for gas making purposes, producing gas which for purity and bril- 
liancy is not excelled anywhere else in the United States. These works are 
capable of producing 50,000 cubic feet of gas every twenty-four hours, which 
would be sufficient to supply a city of 25,000 inhabitants. The works were built 
with especial reference to their probable enlargement at an early day, and their 
capacity can be doubled at comparatively light expense. 

Recognizing the demand for increased lighting facilities and in accord with 
the progressive spirit of the age, the company has established the electric light 
in connection with its gas system, and thus, in addition to supplying electric 
light to those who may prefer it to gas, is enabled to reach and light outlying 
districts where U is impracticable to lay gas mains. The systems in use are the 
Edison Municipal and the American Arc Light, both of which are in successful 
operation for street and interior lighting. The plant at this time consists of one 
Edison dynamo of 160 lights and one 50 arc light, American dynamo. The dy- 
namos are run by water, a Leffel turbine wheel furnishing the motive power, 
thus reducing the cost of operation to the minimum and affording a surplus of 
power for additional dynamos as they may be required to supply the increasing 
demand. Over twenty miles of line wire for conductors is now in use. 

Every city can have gas and electric light, and nearly every one of conse- 
quence does have it, but not every place the size of Tacoma is provided with 
such an abundant and unfailing supply of pure water as we have here. The 
source of our water supply is Spanaway Lake and Glover Creek, whose waters 






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Gas, Electric Lights and Water. S3 

7 — 

fed by springs, unite about ten miles south of Taeoma, from where they are con- 
ducted to the reservoir for distribution. The reservoir is 250 feet above tide 
water, and is situated in the south rn part of the city between two deep canyons 
which, uniting just below the reservoir, make one still longer ravine leading to 
the head of the bay. The water system is divided into a high service and a low 
service. The low service is led directly from the reservoir and has an altitude 
above that part of the city supplied by it of from 50 to 200 feet; the highest part 
of Pacific avenue being 140 feet lower than the reservoir, so that without fire 
engines water can be thrown over the highest buildings. The high service is 
also supplied from the reservoir, but the water is forced into the mains by two 
Holly pumps and by water power furnished by two creeks in the canyons above 
mentioned. The high and low service are. entirely distinct but can be made one 
almost instantaneously by the opening aud closing of a few gates; when this is 
done the pressure on the lower levels is of course very great and sufficient to 
force several large streams of water over the highest buildings. The reservoir, 
which has a capacity of nearly 2,000 r 000 gallons, receives daily from the source 
of supply 3,000,000 gallons of water. Nearly 12 miles of 6, 10 and 12-inch iron 
water mains have been laid along the principal streets and more than 2% miles 
of gas mains. Over $200,000 has been expended by the Company upon its water 
works, resulting in an extensive and complete system. 



COMMERCE OF TACOMA. 



Taeoma already leads the commerce of Puget Sound. Of the aggregate 
tonnage of vessels navigating the Sound in the year 1886, Taeoma is credited by 
the custom house authorities with 115,714 tons, Seattle 113,574 tons, Port Blake- 
ly 85,690 tons, and seven other mill ports with smaller amounts. The total 
tonnage engaged during the year at all the ports was 518,376. It should be said 
that Seattle in the above statement is credited with the aggregate tonnage of the 
Pacific Coast Steamship Company's steamers from San Francisco, while Taeoma 
is not so credited, though the latter city is really the terminus of their route. 

One hundred and sixty-six cargoes of lumber were shipped foreign from 
Puizet Sound during the la.^t year, measuring in the aggregate 106,178,673 ftet, 
valued at SI, 492,470, shipped to ports of Central and South America, Australia, 
the Hawaiian Islands, China, etc. Ships' spars and other- fine lumber were 
shipped to Bath, Maine, Boston and New York. Eighty five cargoes were ship- 
ped in foreign vessels, or a totul of 68,000,000 feet of lumber, the freight money 
for this service, at $10 per thousand feet, amounting to $1,061,179. Two hund- 
red and eighty-four cargoes were shipped in American vessels to coastwise ports, 
amounting to 142,000,000 feet, valued at $1,888,000, the freight on which, at 
§5 per thousand feet, aggregated $710,0(0. 

TwO hundred and ten cargoes of coal, comprising 454,280 tons, valued at 
$1,589,980, were shipped from Taeoma and Seattle, mainly to San Francisco 
the freight on which, at $2.10 per ton, amounted to $953,988. 



34 



Tacoma. 



The total value of the shipments from Puget Sound, foreign and domestic, 
not including the traffic between British Columbia and Sound ports during the 
year, is estimated at $8,036,228, an increase of $1,232,228 over 1885. These 
figures include in both years the cost of freight on cargoes. 

The leading lumber shipping ports of Puget Sound are Tacoma and Port 
Blakely, the two produping over one-third the entire product of this region. 
During eleven months of 1886 (according to Kothschild's Port Towusend circu- 
lar), the Tacoma Mill Company shipped foreign, lumber valued at $264,429.80, 
and during the same period Port Blakely's shipments were valued at #240.948.79. 
The total value of lumber shipped from these two ports to coastwise in 1886, is 
not given, but an approximate valuation of Tacoma shipments would be half a 
million of dollars, making the total value of Tacoma lumber shipments of the 
year by sea not far from $800,000, excluding freight charges. Added to this as 
a part of the lumber commerce of Tacoma should be several thousand dollars' 
worth of cedar shingles and other articles shipped by rail to eastern ports. As 
a lumber shipping port Tacoma takes the lead. 

The two ports from which coal is shipped on Puget Sound are Tacoma and 
Seattle. The comparative shipments from these ports for 1886 are given by the 
Port Townsend shipping reports as follows: 

FROM TACOMA. 

N Tons. 

Carbon Hill, 57 cargoes 176,330 

South Prairie 55,220 



Total shipments 231.550 

FROM SEATTLE. 

Tons. 
Various districts 222,730 

Nearly all the merchandise brought to the Sound by the Northern Pacific 
Railroad for Sound ports and Britifh Columbia is shipped N from Tacoma. and 
that shipped from other points on the Soui.d to go East by rail is loaded at Ta 
coma. The amount of this traffic cannot be estimated, though it largely in- 
creases the preponderance of Tacoma's commerce over that of other Sound 
ports. 

An estimate of the value of the principal products shipped by sea from Ta- 
coma may be given, as follows: 

Lumber $800,000 

Coal 024,(100 

Wheat 36.000 

Other produce 00,000 

Total $1,820,000 

This estimate does not include shipments of produce and merchandise by 
local steamers to Sound ports, or shipments of crops by rail. 

in 1886, or of merchandise handled by the Northern Pacific Kailroad destined 
for other ports, but represents simply the productions of this region forwarded 



Commerce of Tacoma. So 

to various parts of the world by sea. The showing is a good one for Tacoma, 
which within six years has heroine the most important seaport in Puget Sound 
waters, heing excelled only by two other ports of the Pacific coast in its value of 
exports. When the hulk of the wheat of Eastern Washington is shipped from 
this port (and a good deal of it will come here this year), the above figures will 
by contrast seem very small, but they are mainly interesting now as showing the 
tendency of our commerce. 

Daring the year 1885, two cargoes of tea from Japan, valued at $541,450, 
were landed at Tacoma, and sent East by the Northern Pacific Railroad, this be- 
ing the only port on Puget Sound ever receiving tea-laden ships from the Orient. 
During the same year a load was shipped to Europe via Tacoma, to the value of 
$209,210. 

THE CASCADE DIVISION RAILROAD. 

The completion of the Cascade Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
opens to Tacoma a new and enlarged field for business activity, and makes trib- 
utary to her commerce a vast agricultural region teeming with elements of 
wealth. Not only does this extension complete the direct through line from 
Lake Superior to Puget Sound, but it renders the Sound country and Tacoma in- 
dependent of Portland, to which her traffic has been subsidiary. The superior- 
ity of this city as a receiving and shipping point is well stated in the following 
article from the pen of the editor of the Tacoma Ledger: 

"Portlands depends for her support chiefly, first, on the business done in 
supplying the country north of the Columbia river with eastern manufactured 
goods; secondly, on buying, selling, and shipping wheat. 

"The great bulk of her eastern supplies comes over the Northern Pacific 
Railroad to Ainsworth; from Ainsworth to Tacoma via Portland, along two 
sides of a triangle, is 371 miles; from Ainsworth to Tacoma, via the rapidly 
building Cascade Division, along the the third side of the triangle, is 252 miles. 
Freight from all eastern points will soon be brought to Tacoma as quickly and 
as cheaply as to Portland, and when here will be in the heart of the country to 
be supplied, instead of 146 miles away. Moreover this Cascade Division pene- 
trates the great Inland Empire of Eastern Washington, the largest body of wheat 
growing land on the Pacific coast, and taps the very source of Portland's pres- 
ent wheat supply. Will such of this wheat as is destined to reach consumers by 
a voyage on the Pacific ocean go to Portland for shipment, where each vessel's 
cargo must contribute $3,000 or $4,0J0 to pilots, tugs, and lighters — not to say 
anything about exhorbitant rate of insurance or delay in getting in and out of 
the Columbia river, over the bar — or will it come to Tacoma, to be loaded from 
the cars on to deep water ships, and go on its way rejoicing? The question has 
already been answered by the fact that shipments of wheat have been made from 
Tacoma; wheat that had to come to, through and 145 miles past Portland. If it 
has been found profitable to haul wheat out of Portland warehouse's 145 miles to 



36 Tacoma. 



Tacoma by rail for ocean shipment, how much more so shall it prove to load ves- 
sels here, when the wheat can be laid down at Tacoma as cheaply as at Port- 
land? Not only must the bulk of Portland's wheat shipping trade be transfer- 
red to Tacoma, but the surplus product of the new country now being opened up 
to settlement and improvement by the construction of the Cascade Division will 
also be exported from here. This new country is as larue and as productive as 
the entire grain growing region hitherto tributary to Portland, and even should 
Portland retain all its present traffic (which seems next to impossible), Tacoma 
in one year will be the shipping point for a grain producing region as large as 
that which has made Portland a city of 30,000 inhabitants. 

"When the surplus products of this Inland Empre shall be shipped from 
the wharves at Tacoma, the money paid for it will change hands here; the banks 
will be here; the interior merchants and wheat buyers, who have made advances 
to wheat growers, will gather here every fall and winter to sell their grain, tret 
their money, and buy supplies for the next year. In a word, Tacoma will be the 
money center and commercial metropolis of the Northwest. This great end the 
completion of the Cascade Division will promote." 



TACOMA'S ADVANTAGES AS A PLACE OF RESIDENCE. 



Its people enjoy one of the most equable temperate climates in the worlu. 

It has no malarial influences or tendency towards zymotic or other danger- 
ous diseases. 

Its residence streets are so far above the business section as to be beyond 
the detrimental influences of traffic. 

The city naturally drains itself, and water cannot accumulate and remain 
stagnant on the surface to the danger of the public health. 

It is susceptible of a cheap sewerage system, and the heavy rise and fall of 
the tides twice each twenty-four hours keeps the bay and harbor pure at all 
times. 

It is supplied with pure water from mountain streams, brought by the force 
of gravitation a distance of eleven miles beyond the city limits, and distribuied 
throughout the city bv twelve miles of main pipes. Three million gallons of water 
per day flow through the reservoir, which has a capacity of 2,000,000 gallons, 
and from which water is pumped to supply the highest portions of the city. 
These works are capable of furnishing water for the use of 30,000 people, and by 
an extension of the acqueduct system some miles farther towards the Cascade 
range, an indefinite supply can be added. 

By these works the city is effectively protected against extensive conflagra- 
tions. By the force of gravity water is thrown above the roofs of the highest 
buildings. The use of expensive steam engines is dispensed with. 

An efficient volunteer fire department is maintained by the city. 

The streets and buildings are lighted by gas and electricity, the latest mod- 







St. Luke's Memorial -Church 



A Place of Residence. 



37 



ern systems having been introduced, the rates to the city and the p iblic being as 
reasonable as prevail elsewhere on this coast. 

It has nearly thirty miles of fully graded streets and avenues of liberal 
width, laid out in conformity with the best modern rules in city building, and 
twenty five miles of sidewalks. The estimated cost for street improvements in 
1887 is about $80,000. Actual expenditures for street improvements in 188*0, 
$57,541. Street improvements are made at the cost of the property owners 
on each street. Grounds have been reserved for a city park in a central 
residence quarter. 

The city government and police department are efficient, the laws are gen- 
erally respected and good oider maintained. Life and property are as secure as 
they are in any city of the United States, East or West. 

Taxes are not exorbitant, considering the fact that the city and county are 
parsing through the era of public improvements incident to all growing commer- 
cial towns. 

Its educational facilities are unequalled by any place on the Pacific coast 
of double its population and wealth. Its graded public and its private school 
systems have been devised on a liberal and public spirited basis, and the best 
instructors of youth are employed. 

The seventeen churches embrace most of the popular religious denomina- 
tions, and the houses of worship are architecturally in keeping with such edifices 
in Western towns. 

Its society is made up from the best American and European stocks, is in- 
telligent and enterprising, many of its citizens being of the advanced guard of 
early California pioneers, who have done gallant service along the continental 
line. 

It has two excellent and well sustained daily papers, publishing press dis- 
patches, and four weekly journals, one of which is printed in the German lan- 
guage. 

A street car franchise has been granted by the city government to a private 
corporation, the work to be commenced and a portion of the line to be built this 
year, with a provision for yearly extensions until all parts of the city are accom- 
modated with traveling facilities. 



<4Q 



8 Tacoma. 



FOR BUSINESS MEN. 



The remarkable progress of Tacoma, illustrated in the preceding pages, 
should be carefully noted. The growth of the city and the percentage of in- 
crease of it over any other city in the Pacific Northwest during the past seven 
years are striking. Observe: 

Population in 1880 720 

" 1887 £030 

Assessed value of property in 1880 $ 517,227 

1886 2,012,535 

1887 4,3.0,728 

Miles of streets graded in 1880 

" " " 1887 10 

Miles of sidewalks, 1880 

1887 25 

School buildings, 1880 2 

1887 . 7 

School teachers, 1883 6 

1887 29 

School attendance, 1880 125 

1887 1376 

Church buildings, 1880 .'.- 3 

1887 18 

Street frontage of brick buildin:s, 1880 (feet) 75 

1887 •' 2C00 

Tons of coal shipped, 1882 56,300 

" ' " " 1886 234,150 

" value, 1886 $ 926,200 

Freight money on coal, 1886 486,255 

Value of lumber shipped, 1886 $ 800,000 

Tacoma Mill, lumber output, 1886, feet .' 54,863,028 

Hotels, 1880 , 6 

" 1887 15 

Real estate transfers, 1886 $ 747,371 

Hop shipments, 1880, bales 7000 

" 1886, " 17,000 

Public hospitals, 1888 2 

Re^ularsteamers, 1880 \ 6 

1887 36 

Banks, 1880 

" 1887 3 

Banking capital, 1881 $ 25,000 

1887 200,000 

discounts and loans, March, 1887 406,8t0.£6 

" individual deposits, March, 1887 515,412.28 

Street improvements, 1886 : 57,000 

1887, estimated 30,000 

Building improvements, 1885 763,500 

Manufactories, 1880 

1887 30 

Daily supply of water, gallons 3,000,000 

Expenditures on coke ovens. 188J 30,000 



Miscella n e o us. 3 9 



City lighted by gas and electricity. 

Cascade Division will bring thousands of tons of wheat to Tacoma in 1887. 

Cheap coal, coke, lime and ore will render Tacoina the best site for iron 
fomicleries and works of all kinds-. 

Manufacturers will have unequalled shipping facilities by sea and rail. 

Real estate is cheaper than at any other leading point on the coast. 

More money in wages is paid out monthly than at any other point or city 
on Puget Sound. 

Puyallnp valley hop lands tributary to Tacoma only, have paid a larger net 
profit per acre for years than any other agricultural lands in the United States. 

For fruits, vegetables, hay, oats and dairy farming. Western Washington is 
not surpassed. 

Tacoma is the terminus and starting point for Alaskan travel, the magnificent 
steamer Olympian making regular trips between these places. 

The natural center and shipping point for the fishing industry. The finest 
edihle fishes abound in Puget Sound and the Northern and Alaskan waters 
swarm with seals, whale and codfish. 

In short, the natural resources of the Puget Sound country not only rival 
but far surpass those of any other section of the United States, and their de- 
velopment has hardly commenced. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



Tacoma does not lack for news. There are two daily newspapers published 
here. The Ledger, an eight-pa^e, forty-eight column morning paper, publish- 
ing the full report of the Associated Press dispatches. The Weekly Ledger 
is a twelve-page, seventy-two column paper, and circulates extensively through- 
out the territory and the East. The other daily. The News, is a four-page 
paper, published in the evening. Its Weekly is an eight-page paper. Wacht 
am Sunde is a weekly. 

A commodious theater has been provided by the enterprise of citizens where 
may be witnessed the entertainments given by traveling theatrical and musical 
companies. 

Tacoma is the county seat of Pierc e county, and here are located the Court 
House, which is a creditable structure and the Jail, both of them being well 
adapted to the purpose for which they were built. 

Tacoma has three banks, one being the Tacoma National Bank, whereof 
General J. W. Sprague is President, the Merchants' National Bank, of which 
Mr. W. J. Thompson is President, and the Pacific National Bank, whereof Mr. 
C. P. Masterson is President. 



40 



'/T 



1 acorn a, 



HOW TO REACH TACOMA. 

Daily trains run through between St. Paul and Tacoma, bringing this city 
into direct railrua~cl communication with the Mississippi valley and the Eastern 
States. It requires four days to make the trip between the two points. Fol- 
lowing are the 

PASSENGER RATES. 

Unlimited. Limited. Emigrant. 

New York to Tacoma $109.75 $96.50 $61.00 

Chicago to Tacoma 86.50 76.50 44.00 

St. Paul to Tacoma 75.00 65.00 35.00 

For full particulars apply to Charles S. Fee, 

General Passenger Agent N. P, R. R., 

St. Paul, Minnesota. 

FREIGHT RATES-. 

Emigrant movables in car-load lots, including not to exceed six head of 
live stock, man in charge to pay emigrant fare, prepaid 91 cents per hundred 

weight. For full particulars apply to 

J. M. Hannaford, 
General Freight Agent N. P. K. R., 

St. Paul, Minnesota. 
■ From San Francisco passengers can come to Tacoma all the way by ocean 
steamers direct to the Sound for $20 cabin fare and $10 in the steerage; or they 
may come via the Columbia river by steamer to Portland and thence to Tacoma 
for $27, cabin passage, or $17 in the steerage. The time required to make the 
trip is the same by both ways, namely, four days. 

Passengers can also come from San Francisco all the way by rail (except a 
short stage ride which is fast being reduced) via the Oregon and California 

R. R. for $28.50 first class. 

Steamers run regularly to Alaska, all ports in British Columbia and towns 

on Puget Sound, 

While the Puget Sound country in its present comparatively undeveloped 
state is believed to be one of the best regions of the world for the poor man, it is 
by no means prudent for emigrants to come here without sufficient means to 
tide them over until such time as they can establish themselves in away to earn 
money. The man who desires to engage in farming by taking a piece of gov- 
ernment land should not arrive here penniless. It were better to remain longer 
at his old home so as to accumulate a good sum ahead, over and above what will 
be needed for the expenses on the trip. And the like advice is applicable to all 
kinds of pur&uits, down even to the common laborer. There are more chances 
in Western Washington for the profitable use of capital, great and small, than 
in any other country of similar area on the continent. 

HOW TO OBTAIN GOVERNMENT LANDS. 

Pre-emption. — Heads of families, widows or single persons (male or female) 
over the age of twenty-one years, citizens of the United States, or who have de- 
clared their intentions to become such, under the naturalization laws, may enter 



p *R™ * 



r? 




The Coal Burners at Tacoma, Washington Territory 



How to Obtain Government Land. £1 

upon any "offered" or "unoffered" lands, or any unsurveyed lands to which 
the Indian title has been extinguished, and purchase not exceeding 160 acres 
under pre-emption laws. A fee of $3 is required within thirty days after mak- 
ing settlement, and within one year, actual residence and cultivation of the tract 
must be shown, whereupon the pre-emptor is entitled to purchase the earae at 
$1.25 per acre, if outside of railroad land limits, and at $2 50 per acre if within 
railroad land limits. A pre-emptor may submit proofs of residence at any time 
after six months, and obtain title to his land. At any time before expiration of 
time allowed for proof and payment, the settler may convert his pre-emption 
claim into a homestead. No person who abandons his residence upon land of 
his own to reside upon public lands in the same State or Territory, or who owns 
320 acres of land in the same State or Territory, is entitled to the benefits of the 
pre-emption laws. The latter provision does not apply to a house and lot in town. 

Homestead. — Any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived 
at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or has filed 
his declaration of intention to become such, is entitled to enter one quarter sec- 
tion, or less quantity, of unappropriated public land, under the homestead laws. 
The applicant must make affidavit that he is entitled to the priveleges of the 
Homestead Act, and that the entry is made for his exclusive use and benefit, and 
for actual settlement and cultivation, and must pay the legal fee and that part of 
the commissions required as follows : Fee for 160 acres, $10 ; commission, $6. 
Fee for 80 acres, $5 ; commission, $4. Within six months the homesteader must 
take up his residence upon the land, and reside thereon, and cultivate the same 
for five years continuously. At the expiration of this period, or within two 
years thereafter, proof of residence and cultivation must be established by four 
witnesses. The proof of settlement and certificate of the Register of the Land 
Office is f rwarded to the General Land Office at Washington, from which a 
patent is issued. Final proof cannot be made until the expiration of five years 
from date of entry, and must be made within seven years. The government rec- 
ognizes no sale of a homestead claim. A settler may prove his residence any 
time after six months, and purchase the land under the pre-emption laws if de- 
sired. The law allows but one homeslead privilege to any one person. 

Soldiers' Homestead.— Every person who served not less than ninety days 
in the army of the United States during " the recent rebellion," who was honor- 
ably discharged and has remained loyal to the government, may enter a home- 
stead, and the time of his service shall be deducted from the period \of five years, 
provided that the party shall reside upon and cultivate his homestead at l^ast 
one year after he commences improvements. The widow of a soldier, or if she 
be dead cr is married again, the minor heirs (if any) may, through their guar- 
dian, make a homestead entry, and if the soldier died in the service, the whole 
term of his enlistment will be carried upon the terms of the required residence. 
Soldiers and sailors, as above, may file a homestead declaratory statement for 160 
acres of land through an agent, after which they have six months to file their 
homestead. The latter entry must be made in person. 



Jf% 



% 



T acorn a. 



Timber Claim. — One hundred and sixty acres of limber land may be taken 
by heads of families, widows or single persons over the age of twenty-one years. 
Declaration of entry must be made at a U. S. Land Office, setting forth that the 
land desired is timber land and unfit for cultivation, and fully described. Such 
declaration must be advertised at least once a week for sixty days in a newspaper 
published in the county in which it is located, at the end of which time, if there 
be.no contest of prior claims, the land may be had by the payment of $2.50 per 
acre, proof being furnished by two competent witnesses as to the quality of the 
land, etc. At the end of ninety days the claim is forfeited to the government if 
the land is not paid for. 

Government land of good quality mav be obtained a distance of ten miles 
from Tacoma, and there are scattered here and there a few tracts still unoccupied 
and subject to entry upon the pre-emption and homestead laws, as near as eight 
miles from the city. 



The State of Weatlier for 1886. 



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Jan 

Feb] 


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19.. 


21 


"uary 


12 


14 


Mar 
Apr 


ch 


12 


..: is 


1 


15 


15 




13 


13 


Jun 
Jul> 
Aug 
Sept 
Oeto 
Nov 
Dec 


a 


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7 




5 


5 




2 


4 


ember 


5 


5 


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18 


10 


ember 


; 11 


8 


3mber 


23 


18 










Total 


142 


135 









The largest rainfall recorded since observations were commenced, in 1883, 
was that of December, as observed in the table in another portion of this book. 



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Miscellaneous. £3. 



Following are the religious organizations of Tacoma: 
St. Luke's Episcopal Church - - - Rector— Rev. L. H. Wells. 

St. Peters' " - - Rector— Rev. A. S. Nicholson. 

1st Methodist " " - Pastor— Rev. T. J. Massey. 

2d " ..... . Rev A H Landon. 

German Methodist Episcopal Church - - - 

Scandinavian Methodist Church, - - Pastor— Rev. Chas. J. Larson 

Unitarian Church, ----- ----- - Rev. G. H. Greer. 

Christian Church, ---------- Elder K. H. Dicatoor. 

East Tacoma Congregational Church, - - Rev. S. H. Cheadle. 

First Presbyterian Church, ------ Pastor— Rev W. A. Mackey. 

Roman Catholic Church, ------- Pastor— Rev. Father Hylebos 

First Congregational Church, ------- Pastor— A. P. Powelson. 

First Baptist Church, ------ Pastor— Rev. B. S. MacLafferty. 

Scandiuavian Baptist Church, ----- Pastor — Rev. Knut Nelson. 

Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, - - - Pastor— Rev. G. A. Anderson. 
Scandinavian Congregational Church, - Pastor- 

German Lutheran Church, ------- Pastor— Rev. F. N. Wolf. 

Young Men's Christian Association, - - - President— George F. Orchard. 

The coal output from the mines in Pierce county tributary to Tacoma, for 1888 
amounted to 234,000 tons, value $773,556. 

Amount of money spent on streets in Tacoma, 1886— grading, clearing, opening, 
etc.— $57,000. 

Total consideration of transfers of real estate in Pierce countv, recorded in the 
year 1886 was $747,371. 

Average attendance at public schools, about 900. Value of public school property 
in Tacoma school district, $55,000. School expenses for 1886, $20,000. 

Assessed valuation of city property for 1887, $4,090,798. 

Assessed valuation for Pierce county property for 1887, $6,632,028. 

The valuation is based on an assessment at % of the actual value of the property. 

Tacoma Mill Co. cut during the year 1886, 55,000,000 feet of lumber and 18,000,000 
laths and 1,000,000 pickets, the whole valued at $750,000; and 85 cargoes of lumber left 
their wharves, 38 of which went to foreign ports— China, Japan, Australia, Sandwich 
Islands, etc. 

The Tacoma Building and Savings Association Was recently organized with a 
capital stock of $100,000, its object being the accumulation of savings of workingmen, 
enabling them to build houses and pay for the same in monthly installments. 

Value of exports from the Puget Sound district for 1886:— 

In American vessels $1,415,638 

In foreign vessels 243,493 

Total $1,659,136 



THENs- 



Tacoma Land Company 



■OFFERS FOR SALE- 



Desirable Residence 4isiness Property 



XlfcT T-A-COn^-A-, 



AT REASONABLE PRICES AND ON EASY TERMS. 



Special inducements given for the location of 



2v£ -Z^XTTT IF -A- C T 13 1 E3 S . 



Full information -will be furnished upon application, in person or by letter, to 



ISAAC W. ANDERSON, 



GENERAL MANAGER. 



X 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




017 373 307 0- 












■ 



* 






